Budding Trees
by kittenintheden
Summary: Kid sends his top two weapon-meister pairs to Hawaii to deal with a band of pre-kishins and impress the local goddess. There will be blood, and Black Star, and lava, and budding trees. SoMa.
1. Budding Trees

**A/N:** This story will be largely inspired by "Budding Trees" by Nahko and Medicine for the People, which I do not own. I also do not own Soul Eater or any references contained in this story beyond the words arranged in this particular order.

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><p>Hawaii was very, very sticky.<p>

That was Soul's first impression as he exited the Hilo airport. It wasn't even as hot as Death City, but the air felt heavy and thick, like he could chew it. He was tempted to try. It smelled of salt and fire and flowers, which was an odd combination, but not unpleasant.

"Who's ready to get lei'd?" Black Star said as he threw an arm around Soul's shoulders.

Maka studied nearby signs, her brow furrowed as she tried to figure out where they should go next. "We're not here for fun," she said. "Get your head in the game."

"At least it's nice," Tsubaki offered, looking around at the nearby plumeria trees with a contented sigh. "Much better than Siberia in midwinter."

"This way," Maka said, pointing them toward signs for the nearby taxi and driver pickup area.

"One sec," Black Star said as he raced off somewhere. Maka rolled her eyes.

He returned bearing purple and white leis, which he draped over all of them in turn.

"There," he said as he slipped the last one onto the protesting meister. "Even Maka gets lei'd in Hawaii."

She punched him in the arm, but after Black Star had turned his attentions elsewhere, Soul watched her smile softly and touch the delicate blossoms around her neck. Even if his meister was tough as godsdamned nails, she still loved flowers.

They found the driver Kid had arranged for them and loaded their stuff into the car. Tsubaki and Maka stared happily out the window as they wound past farms and houses until they reached the coastline. Soul had to admit that the verdant treescape and bright blue ocean were pretty nice to look at.

"The other side of the island is completely different," Maka said, reading from her travel guide. "It's all rocky and dry. They get most of the rain on this side, which is why everything is so lush."

"Who's a lush?" Black Star said.

Maka kicked the back of his seat.

Their motel wasn't exactly the Four Seasons, but it was clean and quiet with a path down to a nearby beach, and Soul couldn't complain about that. He and Star shoved their leis at Tsubaki and tore immediately for the water, Maka's irritated protests clattering to the ground behind them.

"Guess I'll get us checked in, then," she grumbled.

By the time the boys trudged back inside, grinning and covered in golden sand, everything was all set. Black Star went to give Tsubaki a sloppy hug and she held him at arm's length, her palm on his forehead.

Maka doled out keys and allowed them five minutes to settle before she herded them all into the bathroom in her and Soul's room and called Kid on the mirror.

The Shinigami was in mid-reply to someone they couldn't see when he answered the call.

"Just keep them out! I can't handle either of them right now," he said before turning his gold eyes on the group. "I see you're all still intact."

"Yep," Maka chirped. "Landed safe and sound."

"Trouble in Death City, Kid?" Soul asked.

"Guh," he responded, allowing his stiff exterior to crack as he flung up his hands. He'd been trying to keep himself poised and professional lately to quell the mutterings that he was too young to take over his father's position as the new Grim Reaper, as if there were any alternative. "Liz and Patty are driving me to distraction with their incessant whining. I keep telling them that this is work, not play."

"Work," Black Star said as he shook sand out of his hair. "Right."

"But that's beside the point. I trust you've made contact with Pele's people?"

"Yes," Tsubaki nodded. "We spoke with them before we left. Meeting's still on."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad. Pele is a powerful ally and I would hate to offend her. Maka, Soul, it's very important that you take your position as DWMA's emissaries seriously. The local meisters and weapons have been having a hell of a time with that band of pre-kishins, and this is an excellent opportunity to show the other gods that we still turn out the best."

Soul gave a mocking salute and winced when Maka stomped on his bare foot with her boot.

"You can count on us," she said.

Kid put his hands together in prayer and let a sliver of nerves peek through his facade. "Please, please, please be cool."

"Cool's my middle name," Soul said.

"Your middle name is Lawrence," Maka said. He bared his teeth at her.

"The meeting with the goddess is in -" Kid checked his watch, then his other watch "- one hour, give or take. Be sure you remember your manners. Black Star, Tsubaki, please check in with the local meisters."

"Got it," the quartet replied.

"Okay. Kid out." He paused. "Be cool." He snapped his fingers and the mirror faded back to normal.

Black Star and Tsubaki went to get cleaned up while Maka shoved Soul toward the shower. By the time he was done, she was already dressed to impress in her best meister uniform, including her favorite long-tailed coat.

"You're going to die in that thing," he said. "The humidity here will eat you alive."

"I'll be fine." She snapped her fingers. "Come on. Come on come on come on. We can't be late."

"Loosen your pigtails, Jesus. Out in a minute."

It took considerably more than a minute for him to get his hair the way he liked it, but they somehow managed to make it outside just as their driver pulled up to meet them. The drive to Pele's home was short — they'd stayed nearby intentionally. Soul whistled as they slowed to a stop.

The manor spread over the forest floor, most of the rooms left open and styled with furnishings that could withstand heavy rainfall. A waterfall tumbled behind it, the occasional rainbow appearing when the mist hit one of the sunbeams filtered through the canopy. The trees above them dripped with blooms of every color, and when the wind moved them, a few would flutter down. One lonely little flower landed on Soul's shoulder and he took it between his fingers, rolling it to and fro.

"Normally she stays in her volcanic residence, but it's easier to accept mortal visitors here," Maka said, always a fount of information. "Plus, her visiting sister is a sea goddess, so."

"Yeah, yeah," he said, handing her the flower. She took it with a smile and put it behind her ear.

"Think you can keep your smartass tongue in your mouth for a few minutes?"

He feigned offense. "You wound me."

"Seriously, Soul. This is important. Pele is proud and quick to anger."

"Sounds like someone I know," he said, training his reddish eyes on her stubborn face. "Yes, I'll be good."

She nodded and they walked forward together. A friendly attendant met them near the entryway.

"Welcome. Our Lady Pele wishes to meet you in the outdoor temple. Please follow me."

They raised their eyebrows at one another and did so, walking along a stream flowing by the villa until they reached an open-air temple in front of the waterfall. A wave of heat washed over them, along with the scent of rock and fire, pumped from a nearby vent. Sweat beaded on Soul's forehead as he looked up.

Two Polynesian women sat on the rocks above, their legs folded underneath them. Though they were both ageless, the one seated on the lower rock had an older, wiser look to her, as if she contained depth he couldn't hope to fathom. She gave off an air of calm, practiced power, her long hair cascading in gentle waves down her back. A crown of shell and feathers twined across her brow. This had to be Nāmaka, the goddess of the sea.

The other woman, sitting higher up, could be none other than Pele. A smile graced her full mouth, filled with passion that could turn from love to fury in an instant. Her curled hair stood out all around her head, ruby red flowers woven into its length. Her movements were fluid, easy. Confidence and protectiveness radiated from every inch of her. Soul could tell — he'd seen the same bravery behind Maka's eyes more times than he could count.

"They're beautiful," Maka whispered.

"Yeah," he said.

She blinked and came to herself, dipping into a low bow. Soul followed suit.

"Rise," Pele said, her smile in her voice. "Let me see what the Shinigami of Death City has sent to my door."

"Lady Pele, Lady Nāmaka," Maka said. "We are honored. The new Lord Death sends his compliments. I am Maka Albarn, Class 3 Scythemeister."

"I am Soul Eater, the Last Death Scythe," Soul echoed.

Pele trained her eyes on each of them in turn. While she inspected Soul, he felt his blood twine through his veins like lava through earth. He had no doubt he could burst into flame under her gaze.

"Your souls are strong, young warriors. You fight well together."

"Yes," they agreed.

The goddess sat back with her hands splayed, one leg draped over the rock in front of her. "You've come to help rid my island of the evil that has made it home?"

They nodded. Maka said, "While we're here, we will cause no avoidable harm. We'll remove nothing that isn't ours to take. We offer you our breath and our service, and that of our companions."

"I accept," the goddess said, sounding pleased. "These pre-kishin, they upset my island and harm my people. I will be glad to see them destroyed."

"Us too," Soul said. The song of the hunt started to hum in his bones.

Pele leaned forward over them. "And please," she said, amusement threading her words. "Enjoy your time here. My meisters and weapons will be glad to host you."

"Thank you," they said together.

"Give your new Death God my thanks. You may go."

With another bow, Soul and Maka turned to follow the attendant back out front. Maka fanned her face with her hands and Soul said, "See? Told you that you'd be too hot."

When they were out of earshot, Pele leaned toward Nāmaka. "Such sweet children. Do you hear it? The music his soul plays for hers?"

Nāmaka inclined her head. "I hear, just as I see the way her soul always reaches to find his hand."

Pele's laugh curled from her like smoke from flame. "I like them. Shall we give them a gift?"

"Go gentle, sister," Nāmaka said, letting her coolness calm Pele's heat. "Your fire can consume, just as my waves can crush."

"There's no need for excess," the volcano goddess said. "They're already standing at the top of the cliff. They only need a little push."

Pele whistled low to the wind. Nāmaka whispered to the earth below, not to be outdone. A touch of nature's own course. A tiny suggestion. A truth as yet uncovered.

The warm breeze caressed Soul's neck like a breath and he turned to find nothing but air. A cool drop fell from the trees above to hit Maka's forehead, dripping down her face. She wiped it away with a shiver.

"Weird," they said together, and kept walking.

The sister goddesses smiled to their retreating backs.


	2. Bitter Rivals

It only took two days for them to jump off a literal cliff.

Maka ran full-tilt across the rocky earth, Soul stretched out behind her in scythe form. She ducked and rolled, avoiding debris coming at them from all angles.

"I hate it when they explode," she yelled, dodging to her right when she heard whistling shrapnel flying through the air behind her. The impact knocked her down.

"Get up," Soul commanded. "We're almost there. Shit, that thing's about to pop. Move!"

"Says the jerk who doesn't have to do the running. Can you shift to flying form?"

"No time, you gotta jump."

She pushed her palms against sharp pebbles and took off again, heading straight for the place where the world dropped out of view. The pre-kishin with a knack for pyrotechnics rumbled loudly behind them. It sucked in a breath and held it, making everything go silent and still just before the meister and her weapon reached the edge of the cliff.

And then, BOOM.

Maka pushed off the rock, propelling herself with all her strength into open air. Fire billowed behind her, pushing her further on a shock wave even as it singed the tips of her pigtails. For a single second, they stayed suspended in midair above the blue, blue sea.

Soul shifted as soon as gravity took hold. He grabbed Maka's shoulders and wrapped himself around her.

"Straighten your body," he yelled into her ear. "This is really going to hurt."

They struck the water feet first, plunging down until the pressure in his ears sent jolts of pain through his skull. As predicted, his whole body hurt like he'd just hit concrete. The impact had separated them and he flailed around, trying to find her in the murky salt water. They needed to get to shore before the waves pummeled them back into the cliff face.

He shrugged off the jacket that was trying to drag him down, barely mourning the loss. The leather would be ruined, anyway. His lungs burned for air, and he swam up toward the light, finding Maka on the way and dragging her along by a coattail.

They broke the surface and gasped. Oxygen had never tasted so sweet. Maka went right back under and he followed, helping her yank off her own coat and abandoning it. When they'd both taken a few seconds to breathe and clear their heads, he wrapped his arm around her waist so he wouldn't lose her and they swam sidelong, parallel to the cliff. The waves were not a fucking joke, swelling and slamming them mercilessly until they managed to find a beach nestled in the rocks.

Undertow clawed at their feet and tried to drag them back as they made land. He made sure they'd both crawled well clear of the tide line before he collapsed, coughing up seawater. She rolled onto her back beside him, sputtering.

"That sucked," he rasped. "That sucked real bad."

"We didn't collect the soul," she responded, voice thick.

That was just like her. All business. He rose to his knees and stared up the cliff. There was a barely-there path, probably made by locals who used this isolated beach. "Not our problem anymore. Let the local meisters fetch it."

Maka sat up, her pigtails limp and dripping on either side of her face as she stared out at the water. "I really liked that coat," she said.

"C'est la vie or whatever," he said, shakily getting to his legs and offering her a hand up, which she accepted. "We're in the tropics. It's not like we need our jackets."

She leaned down to unsuccessfully brush wet sand off her skirt. "We've got to get back and give Kid a report."

"We can't take five minutes to contemplate our most recent brush with death?" He looked down at her just as she turned to face him, hands on her hips and look of determination on her face.

"No, Soul. This isn't a vacation. We're here on duty."

He also noticed that her white button-down was soaked through, and that she was wearing a pink bra with pastel polka dots. His eyes rolled skyward and he turned his back on her.

"Oh, you're going to ignore me now?" she said.

"No, I just figured you would want to deal with your chest situation before you continue to bitch at me."

"What do you mean my chest- oh my gods." The sound of wet cloth being yanked away from skin made him chuckle as he imagined her hunched forward and holding her shirt out in front of her.

"Don't look!" she squeaked.

"I'm not! I am literally, as we speak, in the act of not looking. I mean, there's more to see now than there used to be, but not by much." He reached down to the hem of his own dripping shirt and peeled it off, holding it out behind him for her to grab.

She snatched it out of his hand. "And how do you know that, you pervert?"

He spread his arms wide, shrugging to the ocean. "Uh, I don't know, maybe because you leave your bras hanging on that little rack thing in the bathroom sometimes?"

"So you checked the size? That's creepy." Her voice was muffled as she pulled his shirt over her head.

"I plead scientific curiosity."

"I plead that you're a perv." She paused. "I'm decent."

He turned around, snorting a little at his shirt hanging down past her own skirt. Either he'd grown a lot in the last year, or she'd shrunk.

Distant calls floated down to them from high up. Maka inclined her head, jumping and waving. Soul squinted up the cliff face and saw Tsubaki waving frantically back from the top of the path. He lifted his hand at her.

"We're fine," Maka bellowed with her hands cupped around her mouth. "Go get the soul."

"She can't hear you," he said.

She huffed. "Then we'll just have to start walking."

"Oh come on, Maka," he whined. "Can't we spend a little time on the beach, since we're already here?"

"I told you, this isn't a vacation," she popped a hip and planted her hand on it. "And not that all this -" she gestured to his torso "- isn't very nice, but we have places to be and things to do."

He broke into a grin, preening as he looked down at his own scarred chest. "You think this is nice? You think other ladies think it's nice?"

"Everyone with a pulse thinks it's nice, shut up."

He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, pleased. "If you wanna touch these abs, Maka, you just gotta ask."

"How generous," she smirked. Then she walked over and slugged him in the gut. Not hard, but enough to wind him. "Come on, let's go."

He rubbed his belly and followed her toward the path. "Touchy, touchy."

"Pervy, pervy," she called back to him.

* * *

><p>After they'd secured the pre-kishin soul, Maka insisted on heading back to their beachside motel to call Kid and give him a report. They both showered first, ridding themselves of sand and salt water and leaving a convenient fog on the mirror for her to draw out the appropriate numbers.<p>

Kid appeared and was almost immediately replaced by Liz and Patty, both fighting to peer through the mirror at them.

"Oh my gods is it amazing?" Liz said, clutching her hands together and looking absolutely miserable. "I can't believe we're stuck here. The one time there's a pre-kishin infestation somewhere _nice_ and we're wrapped up in bureaucracy."

Patty tried to shove her sister out of the way. "Are you catching geckos? All the cute little tiny geckos? Bring me back a gecko, 'kay?"

Kid's hands appeared between the two girls' heads and he pushed them to either side, annoyance painted plainly on his face. "We're revisiting the witch treaty and it's extremely important and this is history in the making and I would appreciate it if you both started acting like weapons befitting a Shinigami, thank you very much."

He straightened his jacket and turned his attention to the meister and weapon. "Report?"

"Two down, three to go," Soul said. "The last one got a little hairy when she ducked into a lava tube, but we took care of it. No sweat."

Maka elbowed him in the ribs. "We're working hard, Kid."

The Death God nodded. "Very good. And the meeting with Pele?"

"Went wonderfully," Maka said. "She seems very pleased to have our help."

"Excellent. Please keep me appraised. And Soul," he said, training his eyes on the weapon. "Would you do something with this?" He waved his hand in front of his forehead.

Soul blinked. "Hah? With what?"

Kid waved both hands frantically over his head. "With this nonsense you call hair. Fix it."

"What's wrong with my hair?" He reached up and felt a cowlick sticking up in back that he hadn't had time to style yet.

Kid's eye twitched. "Just tell me you'll fix it."

"Yeah, I'll fix it, don't worry."

"Good. Carry on. Tell Black Star-"

Liz and Patty were back in the mirror again.

"Maka, you have to get yourself some really pretty clothes, okay? And make sure you get me some of those chocolate covered macadamia nuts," Liz said.

Patty clapped her hands. "Coffeeeeeeeee coffee coffee bring back all the coffee."

Kid shoved his way between them, exasperated. "Thank you for the report. Get some R&R this evening. Kindly keep Black Star in check. Kid out."

The mirror faded back to normal.

They looked at one another.

"Movie night?" Soul said.

"I'll go see what they have in the vending machines," Maka said.

They were both comfortably situated on their own double beds with a bag of gummy worms and arguing over whether to watch _Lilo and Stitch_ or _Hawaii Five-0_ when Black Star pounded on their door. Soul grunted and got up to let him in. Ignoring him would result in a shattered door, and neither of them wanted that on DWMA's tab.

He bounded in and hopped on Maka's bed, bouncing her in the air.

"Kid said R&R night! Get dressed!"

Maka managed to swipe his legs out from under him with a swift kick and he landed on his side with his hand propped on his elbow.

"Babe. This is so sudden."

She shoved him off the bed as Tsubaki leaned against the doorframe with a bag over her shoulder.

Black Star popped up off the floor. "Seriously though, get up. We're going out. The local meisters invited us to a luau."

"I don't think Kid meant for us to go out partying all night, genius machine," Maka said as she gathered her spilled candy back into its bag.

Soul shrugged from where he slouched near the door. "Yeah, we got beat to hell today. Kind of wanted to take it easy."

"Stop." Black Star clapped his hands and pointed at them with twin finger guns. "Being total buzzkill losers. Party time. With hula. And food. Get off your asses. We're going."

Soul sighed to the ceiling. "I hate parties, dude. You know that."

"This isn't some dumbass stuffy suit party. Hula girls, man."

"Hula girls?" Soul raised an eyebrow, not quite swayed.

"Yep. And poke. And lomi-lomi salmon. And laulau. For free."

That caught his attention. "Free fish?"

"Yeah."

"Like, they're just going to give it to me."

"Yes."

"Okay, I'm in."

Maka groaned and threw herself back onto her pillows. Tsubaki came inside and sat next to her, digging through her giant bag.

"Come on, it'll be nice to unwind," she said. "I even have stuff for you to wear."

"I don't know if I like the sound of that," Maka mumbled through her hands.

Black Star backhanded Soul in the chest. "Put on your shorts and that broody 'don't touch me' look that makes all the girls want to touch you and let's _go_ already."

Soul shot Maka a glance. "We are supposed to keep him in check."

"Yeah, Maka, you have to keep me in check," Star agreed, nodding slowly.

She sighed. "Oh, just go."

"We'll catch up later," Tsubaki promised.

Soul took five minutes to change into something beachy and fix the cowlick in his hair before following Star out into the lobby. The meister-weapon party was a mile up the road at a rec center, so they decided to hoof it. Soul strolled and let Black Star jabber on while he enjoyed the red-orange sunset and listened to the waves crash.

The air was still thick as honey, and he was starting to like it.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN:** Please do not ever jump off a cliff into open Hawaiian waters because YOU WILL PROBABLY DIE._


	3. Dance All Night

The dancers were beautiful.

Meisters chanted and played ipu heke while a group of female weapons moved in perfect harmony across the raised platform with muscle control that made Soul a little jealous. Their footing was as sure as any meister, their cloth dresses swaying with their hips. It was easy to lose himself in the rhythm of the chant and the flow of the dance. He bet their resonance was off the charts.

When they finished, Black Star leaned to him and said, "I don't get it."

"That's because you're a cultureless asshole," Soul said.

Star shrugged. "I'm okay with that. C'mon, let's make the rounds."

Soul wanted to meet the two men who'd been playing percussion. After he'd paid his compliments, he let Black Star lead him around and introduce him to several of the locals. He made polite conversation, Kid's voice echoing in his ears about propriety and representing DWMA as the Last Death Scythe.

The sun had been below the horizon for forty-five minutes by the time he could break away long enough to get some food. True to Black Star's word, there was a top-notch spread ranging from fresh raw fish to hamburgers. He loaded up on extra ahi poke.

Torches and an occasional halogen light lit the back patio of the rec center, which blended right into a beach lined with copses of trees. A small fire burned in a nearby pit, casting the nearby area in a warm orange glow. Save the stars, there was no other light. The sky was moonless. Had been for a while.

Soul swallowed his last bite of fish. It was near impossible to look at the night sky without thinking of Crona. Or rather, without thinking of his meister worrying about Crona. He'd liked the kid, but they were something else to Maka. He deepened his lean on the rainbow shower tree he was hiding under.

Black Star managed to find him anyway. "Soooooo. Did you see anything you liked?"

He lifted his empty plate. "Lots of things. Ate most of them."

Star took the plate and tossed it in the trash nearby. "You know what I mean. Any of the girls catch your eye? Devilish good looks are wasted on you, I swear."

Soul shrugged. "There are some cute ones, sure. The dancers were really talented."

"'Really talented,' listen to you. It's okay to _use your eyes,_ bro." Black Star elbowed him in the ribs and nodded into the crowd. "Try using them on that one, for example. That is a nice honey right there. So nice."

He followed Star's line of sight to a girl's back, long and lithe beneath the pale blue string of her bikini top. Her hair was dark gold and shiny in the firelight, pinned atop her head with a clip. He followed her neck right down her spine to what he had to admit was a pretty stellar sarong-covered ass.

He gave a low whistle. It wasn't entirely for show... it _was_ a nice ass.

"I would do _things_ to that girl, man," Black Star said.

"Yeah, I could be into it," Soul agreed, grinning lazily.

The girl turned so they could see her profile, laughing at something someone nearby had said.

His smile evaporated instantly.

He and Black Star turned their backs on the girl so fast he was pretty sure they'd both gotten whiplash.

"Dude it's Maka," Black Star said in a rush.

"I saw," Soul hissed.

"Maka. Your partner Maka. Maka-Albarn-Maka."

"I said I saw."

"Oh gods I feel gross. I feel so dirty right now. I take it all back." He shoved Soul toward the bar. "Get me a mai tai to wash out my mouth. Get yourself one to wash out your eyes." He shook himself with a very audible "wharrbluh" sound.

Soul shivered too, and he hated that it wasn't entirely due to disgust. "The light's really low back here. She always wears one-pieces. How was I supposed to fucking know?"

"Did you see she has...?" Star raised his eyebrows and cupped his hands in front of his chest like he was grabbing a pair of invisible tits.

Soul smacked him on the back of the head. "Shut your face."

He rubbed his skull. "When did she get those, seriously? I mean, still nothing to write home about, but they're, you know, there."

"I said _shut the fuck up_, Star."

His friend surrendered. "All right, all right. Jesus, cool it with the big brother act. I would never do _things_ to her." He shuddered again and made a show of gagging.

A throat cleared behind them and they whirled to find her standing there, arms crossed self-consciously in front of her chest.

"Nothing," Black Star said. "What? No. Nothing to see here. What?"

Her eyebrow arched in question. "What are you talking about?"

Soul released the breath he'd been holding and thanked Death that they'd keep their heads for at least a little while longer. She dropped her arms to her sides and he could practically see the muscles in Black Star's face straining not to look down.

"I have to be not here," Black Star said, hightailing it for the bar.

"What's with him?" she asked.

Soul shrugged. "I think your bikini is freaking his shit."

"Oh gods," she said, re-crossing her arms and hunching forward again. "Liz sent it and Tsubaki made me wear it."

"It looks, you know, not bad. Okay, it looks nice. You look nice."

She shot him a look out of the side of her eye. "Are you messing with me?"

He went to lean back against his tree, missed, and tried again, clearing his throat. "Don't look a gift compliment in the mouth."

Her mouth quirked up in a smile. "Thanks. Anyway, they started dancing." She gestured behind them to a patio full of people moving to a bassline he could feel reverberating inside his chest. "I wanted to see if I could get you to come dance with me. We're still on mission, after all, and it helps us stay in tune."

"Can't you just relax for a second?" He rolled his eyes at her. "You heard Kid. It's R&R time. And you know I don't dance in front of -" he looked around "- other people."

"Oh. Okay." She buried her bare toes in the sand. "In that case, there was another meister over there who asked me to dance, so."

"Right on." He held out his fist for her to bump. "Let your hair down and go get it."

She giggled and tapped her knuckles to his. "Don't just sit on the outskirts all night, okay?"

"Don't tell me how to live my life," he said, smiling despite himself.

After she left, Black Star returned with drinks in tow, handing one to Soul and downing his own in a few gulps. Soul tested his, wrinkling his nose at the oversweetened syrupy stuff coating his tongue. The bite of rum beneath it was its only saving grace.

They people-watched for a while before Star got bored and went to find Tsubaki. Soul finished his drink, enjoying the slightly cooler night air and the whisper of the trees around him. Every once in a while, another local meister or weapon stopped by to chat. Everyone was very friendly. He could get used to it.

He wondered if Maka was still dancing, or if she'd already given up due to the fact that she was absolutely terrible at it. Scanning the crowd of dancers, it didn't take long to find her when one couple moved out of the way to reveal her near the center of the patio.

She _had_ let her hair down, literally and figuratively. Her locks whirled around her head and she moved back and forth with abandon, completely oblivious to her lack of rhythm. The tall Hawaiian boy she was dancing with didn't seem to mind. He grinned down at her while he traced his hands lightly over her back and hips as she turned.

When she twisted around with her back to the guy and sank down across the length of his torso with a little smile playing at her lips, Soul bared his teeth and moved across the sand. Before he could stop himself, he was tapping the other boy on the shoulder. The meister halted his movements and turned, his wiry black curls framing his face.

"Mind if I cut in?" Soul said.

The other boy blinked at him. "No problem."

Maka looked confused and a little put out as the meister took her hand and brushed his lips over her knuckles. "Thank you for the dance, sister." He winked at her and wandered off toward the food tables.

She watched him go and whirled back. "What the hell, Soul? We were having a good time."

"I changed my mind," he said, grabbing her hand and putting another on her waist. "I'll dance with you."

She huffed, but didn't pull away, putting her free hand on his arm and falling into their usual waltz steps. "You're the one who told me to go get it," she said.

"Well that," he nodded toward the other boy's back. "Was a lot of getting. Since when do you dance like that?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. "Everybody was dancing like that, and I never have. We're supposed to be having a good time, right? I thought I'd give it a try, and it felt nice. We never dance that way."

"That's because we don't dance at underground clubs while we're on ecstasy," he said.

She shrugged. "I thought it was fun. You're just mad because all you know how to do is this classy cotillion rich kid dancing."

He scowled. "I can... dance like that. I just don't."

"I don't believe you." She tossed her hair, and it was so uncharacteristically princess-y that he snorted.

"If you're challenging me, then I accept." He sounded a lot cooler than he felt. He looked around, feeling eyes everywhere. Crowds sucked. Dancing in crowds sucked even more. It felt like performing.

Even so, he moved his hand from her waist to her lower back, drawing her closer. They dropped their clasped hands and let their arms hang to the side, while the hand that had been on his arm moved up to grip his shoulder.

He listened to the music, to the low thrum of the bass, and moved his hips to the beat, bending his knees to dip lower. Heat rose up his neck as Maka took his lead and wove her hips side to side to match, positioning herself between his bowed knees so she could press up against him. Everything seemed unusually close. It wasn't like he wasn't used to her being so near. He'd wrapped his body protectively around hers dozens of times, keeping her safe from harm. This was different. This was weird.

Weird and very warm.

They'd come to the edge of the crowd. He could feel her breath through the front of his shirt, she was so close. Tentatively, because it felt like the thing to do, he floated his hand over her hip, barely brushing the skin above her sarong.

"See?" He heard her say. "It's fun."

"Get a rooooooooooom, horndogs." Black Star glided by them, sitting atop a keg on a dolly pushed by two other guys. He pointed at Soul. "You're disgusting, bro. Find yourself a church."

Soul and Maka snapped apart, a soft sea breeze sighing between them.

He buried his hands in his pockets, neck still hot. "And this is why I don't dance in public."

She tucked her hair behind her ear and looked away. An unfamiliar silence stretched taut.

"I'm going to, um." He pointed off into the distance. "Get some food. You need anything?"

"Nah." She shook her head. "I'm good."

"'Kay." He turned on his heel and went back to the tables.

He wasn't especially hungry, but he picked over what was left anyway. He'd just bitten into a strawberry when a girl with long red-black hair and multiple facial piercings reached in front of him to snatch a piece of pineapple.

"You're the Last Death Scythe, aren't you?" she said without pretense.

After he'd had a chance to swallow, he said, "I am. Soul Eater." He held out his hand for her and she shook it.

"I'm Jinah. So that stuff on the moon was pretty wild, hey?"

One side of his mouth lifted in a smirk. "You could say that."

"I'm one of the local weapons. Fire spear. Maybe you and I will get to go on the next run together and I can see you and your meister in action. I bet she's wild to watch, too." The girl craned her neck around Soul, presumably looking for Maka.

"Pretty accurate description of Maka, actually," Soul agreed. He noticed the curling vine tattoo twining up and around the girl's shoulder. "Weren't you one of the dancers?"

"Ee-yeah," she said, pausing to suck on her pineapple.

"You were all excellent."

"Thanks," she smiled, craning to look around him again. She gestured with her chin. "So, your friend. Any idea if they happen to be interested in people who happen to look like me?"

He blinked at her, then looked over his shoulder to see Black Star and Tsubaki talking with another group before turning back to the girl.

"Knowing him, probably. I have to warn you, though, he's an acquired taste."

"Pfft," she waved her hand. "I meant the pretty one."

He raised his eyebrows and looked back at Tsubaki. "Oh. Uh. You know, I've never actually asked."

"Well, then I'll have to ask for you. It was nice to meet you, Soul." She clapped him on the arm and stuck another piece of pineapple between her teeth before heading off.

As he watched her go, the boy who'd been dancing with Maka earlier came to take her place. Soul eyed him warily, but he looked relaxed, watching the girl-weapon with a half-smile as she chatted Tsubaki up.

"I see you met my weapon partner," he said. "Jinah tends to move fast and get to the point." The boy held out his hand. "I don't think I ever introduced myself. I'm Keon."

"Soul," he said, accepting the boy's handshake. It was solid as stone - the grip of a meister.

"The Last Death Scythe, yeah. We heard all about what you did. Nothing but respect for that."

"Thanks. Wasn't all me, though. I had help."

"Ah right, Maka is your meister. She's something, that one."

"Something, yeah." Soul shifted, his shoulders tensing. "Look, about that. She tends to get pretty wrapped up in work, so if you were hoping for..." He ran his tongue over his teeth without finishing his thought. "Just don't expect too much."

Keon regarded Soul carefully. Not with challenge in his eyes, just like he was giving him a once over. His gaze lingered a little longer on Soul's chest than anywhere else. He raised his hand in apology.

"I'm sorry, buddy. I didn't know."

"Didn't know what?"

He tilted his head and furrowed his brow. "That you two were a thing."

"Wh... what?" Soul sputtered. "I'm not... that's not... it's not like that, with us. I just don't want you to get your hopes up."

The boy laughed. "Don't you know your own soul?"

"Of course I do," he said, bristling. "It's an _awesome_ soul."

Keon nodded. "Yeah, it's a good one. Strong despite its flaws. Loyal. A little dark, but you keep that in check. Full of music." He touched the side of his nose. "But like your meister, I can see deeper inside, and I see a spark."

"The hell does that mean?"

The boy reached out and tapped him twice on the sternum. "You got Pele's heat in you, brother, and I'm no fool. I know better than to get between the fire and the sea."

Soul just stared, and Keon decided to take his leave, stretching his arms to the sides.

"Jinah and I live just up the road," he said. "House with the blue door. If you find you need backup, you give us a yell." He clapped Soul on the arm, just as Jinah had. "It was good to meet a Death Scythe. I'll see you."

He watched Keon wander back toward the crowd. What a weird guy. What did he know? They'd only just met.

"Are you skulking again?" said a voice from behind him.

He jumped and grabbed his chest, whirling. "Christ, Maka. Wear a bell."

She scoffed. "It's a party. If you weren't expecting people to come up to you at a party, you're denser than you look."

His heart continued to pound, the unexpected jolt of adrenaline setting him on edge. He shoved his hands in his pockets. "I'm gonna take a walk."

"Okay." She popped a berry in her mouth. "I could use some air."

He thought about telling her he wanted to be alone, but it'd be pointless. She'd just pry. So he shrugged as she tagged along. They picked a path that wound through a nearby copse of trees between the water and the homes that lay nestled further up the road. They didn't talk. They didn't need to.

The rainbow shower trees were thick here, and Maka kept reaching up to palm the cascades of yellow and pink blossoms. Her hair occasionally glinted in the sparse streetlight from the road above them and he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. With her locks loose around her shoulders like that, he kept thinking she was someone else.

He blamed the lack of light for the fact that he nearly tripped over the body before Maka grabbed him by the arm and yanked him back. The back of her other hand was pressed against her mouth.

Now that they were on top of the guy, Soul had no idea how they hadn't smelled him before. He coughed into his own hand, eyes stinging with the smell of burnt hair and flesh. The man's eyes were open and glassy, his mouth trapped in a silent scream. The whole left half of his body was burned clean away. It was as if something had taken a cauterized bite out of him, scooping his soul out in the process.

There was a slight rustling, followed by Black Star dropping from the trees above.

"I swear, if you two are coming back here to get freaky, I'm gonna hurl," he said as he came up behind them. He stopped when he saw the man. "Oh shit. I might hurl anyway."

Maka straightened, a familiar look in her eye. "Pre-kishin," she said.

Black Star sighed. "Looks like R&R time is over."

"Yeah," Soul agreed.


	4. Young Volcanoes

**A/N:** I may or may not be setting up totally skewed expectations as far as my ability to churn out fiction. I may crash and burn soon, fair warning. Even so, this story is (mostly) planned out, so. And yes, I am naming my chapters after the songs I listen to while I write them SURPRISE. I own nothing except the ability to put words together cohesively. P.S. thank you thank you thank you to all the folks both here and on Tumblr who are giving me such wonderful feedback! Makes my freakin' day.

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><p>It was a good thing Pele's secondary home was made mostly of stone and constantly soaked with rain, because she was fuming.<p>

Literally.

"He dares?" the goddess bellowed, flames licking up and down her arms. Her eyes glowed like coals. "A fool seeking power dares use an instrument of volcanic glass to kill my people?"

After they'd found the body, Soul, Maka, Tsubaki and Black Star had all called ahead to contact Pele's attendant, who informed them the goddess demanded an audience. Now they stood before her, heads bowed, waiting out her rage. When they'd described the man's injuries, she'd known the cause immediately, and her anger flowed.

Liquid fire dripped down her fingers, scalding and crackling wherever it hit the ground. "Death is too good for a demon such as this."

Nāmaka glided forward, placing a hand fearlessly on Pele's wrist. Steam rose with an explosive hiss where they touched, but Pele seemed to slowly calm, the fire receding.

"Peace, little sister," Nāmaka said. "They have done right to inform us."

"Yes," Pele agreed, her eyes fading back to black as she turned them on the group. "You are tireless in your service, and I am glad for it."

Maka stepped forward, her sarong now tied into a makeshift dress to cover her body. "We'll set out immediately, my Lady."

"You are tired," Pele said, waving her hand. "I would see this creature torn to pieces, but I will not send warriors into battle unrested. You may stay the night in my guest wing."

Maka bowed. "You honor us, but it's no trouble. Our motel isn't far."

"It is late and you will stay." There was no room for argument in the goddess' words. "I wish it."

"Yes, Lady Pele."

The goddesses walked off together, heads bowed in low conversation. Pele's attendant offered a smile and held out his hand.

"If you will follow me," he said.

Tsubaki and Black Star took up the rear, taking everything in and vocalizing how impressed they were. Soul mostly felt beat as hell. His bones ached from their earlier cliff-diving adventures, and unexpectedly finding a body hadn't helped. All in all, it had been a bizarre night. Falling face-first into a bed sounded like an excellent plan.

They turned into one of the few covered hallways and the attendant stopped before a series of four doors. He bowed, invited them to make themselves comfortable, and bid them goodnight.

Black Star bounded to each door in turn. "All right, we all get our own... oh, no, wait, this is a bathroom. I call the king bed unless someone wants to fight me for it!" He cut to the left and ducked into a room.

"I don't have the energy for musical beds," Maka groaned.

Tsubaki laughed as she leaned into another one of the rooms. "I'll make it easy and take this one, then. It's a single."

Soul peered into the last room to find one double bed. "Tsu, are you sure you and Maka don't want to -" But she'd already closed her door on him. "... Right."

Maka pushed past him. "You can go share with Black Star if you want, but I'm taking this one. Stay or go?"

"Stay, I guess." He shut the door behind them. They'd shared beds before when they absolutely had to, but he didn't especially like doing it. She was a cover hog, and she kicked in her sleep.

He pulled his shirt off by the collar and turned to find her unwrapping her sarong and letting it fall to the floor. Her bikini bottoms tied at either side of her hips and, for some reason, it made his fingers itch. She went to the wall and reached up to a nearby shelf, trying to grab the long sleep dresses folded there.

"Help?" she asked.

With a sigh, he walked over and pulled one down with ease. "When did you get so short?"

"No energy for banter. Need rest." She pulled the sleep dress over her shoulders before reaching behind her back to untie her bikini string.

He coughed and turned around, feeling heat creep up his neck again. "You must be tired. You didn't even tell me not to look."

"I know you don't look," she answered, and he heard the soft _whuff_ of fabric falling over her body. He glanced over his shoulder in time to see her pull the bikini top out of the top of the dress, which made a weird thing happen in his gut.

He walked over to the far side of the bed and fell on top of it with a grunt, facing outward and drawing the thin blanket up over himself. She blew out the lantern that lit the room and crawled in beside him so they were back to back. The bed was just big enough for two, but not big enough to give them ample free space. He felt her arch her spine as she stretched and settled. Her breathing turned rhythmic in minutes.

Sleep took longer to come to him. It wasn't like he wasn't exhausted, it was just that he could feel her heartbeat against his back. Beat, beat, beat. Slightly off from his own, enough to be distracting. It pulsed into him, spreading through the back of his ribcage around to the front. Blearily, he felt Keon's fingers hitting his sternum. _Tap, tap._

When unconsciousness finally settled over him, it was light and restless. He dreamed of a red door in the middle of a white wall.

The room stood on the surface of a black sea, far away from anything else inside him, like a box forgotten in the attic. He approached it, trying to remember how long it'd been. That red door was still fresh as the day he'd painted it, still locked tight from when he'd thrown away the key. He didn't like being in front of it again. It made him anxious.

A glow to his right caught his attention and he frowned, turning. In the distance, he saw a shimmer like the sun beginning to lick at the horizon.

There was a sharp crack and he spun back around. At the top right corner of the door, a thin, jagged line split the frame and the plaster beyond it. Dust floated down from it and bile rose in his throat.

He jolted awake, Maka's hand on his shoulder. Thin morning light peeked through the drawn blinds.

"Hey," she said. "We've got a pre-kishin to hunt."

When she stood, he pushed himself to sitting, shaking the cobwebs from his head. It felt like he'd barely slept at all. Maka flicked his ear and he swatted at her.

"M'up, m'up," he grumbled.

She was back in her bikini-and-sarong getup. "Pele insisted on feeding us before we head out."

He grunted at her and she left him alone to pull his shirt back over his head. His mouth tasted like a bag of asses, and there was definitely a crick in his shoulder. Stretches didn't help much, so he gave up, slouching sullenly to meet the others.

The goddesses weren't present, but there was a fantastic spread. Or it would have been, if everything didn't taste like salt and ash to him. He knew it should taste good - it smelled wonderful - but his tongue was apparently on strike. He set his fork down after a few bites.

Maka swallowed and looked him over. "Are you feeling all right?"

"M'fine."

"You should tell me if you're not -"

"I said I'm _fine,_ Maka. Stop being such a fucking mother hen." His chair screeched across the flagstones as he pushed back and stormed off, ignoring Tsubaki's startled look.

When he reached the front of the manor, he paced back and forth, flexing and unflexing his fingers, waiting. He wouldn't be alone for long. He never was.

He almost had himself under control when she stomped outside with murder in her eyes.

"Soul," she said, voice dangerous and deadly. "What is your damage? You've been acting weird since last night."

"I'm tired. I slept like shit." He ran his fingers through his hair, looking anywhere but at her.

"You need to get it together. We're guests here. Emissaries. You understand how important this is, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do, because you won't stop _nagging me about it._" He yelled the last bit at her with enough force to move her hair with his breath.

Her hands balled into fists and he braced for impact. He kind of wanted it. It would be familiar, at least. Not like the foreign thoughts that had been creeping up on him ever since they'd arrived.

Instead, she gripped his arm and pulled him to her.

"I don't know what's going on in that stupid fluffy head of yours, but snap out of it," she said. "We have work to do."

He wanted to keep being angry, but the heat drained out of him. Picking a fight with her over a bad night's sleep was ridiculous. He knew it was. They'd been above this for months. Why was he doing it?

"Yeah," he said. "I'm just... off. I'll handle it."

"Good," she said, releasing him. "Go wait in the car or something."

He did, nodding to the driver who held the door for him. The minutes passed and he spent them smoothing the tightness in his frown, rebuilding his favorite unaffected mask. When the others came outside and Maka slipped into the seat beside him, he didn't turn to look.

Not until she tossed a bundle in his lap and hunkered down, staring straight ahead with her arms crossed. He glanced down and saw something wrapped in a napkin. When he opened it, he found a few pieces of musubi with egg and felt his face soften. He brushed his fingers over her knee, his thanks unspoken. She shrugged.

After a brief stop at the motel to change and refresh for the day ahead, they gathered outside for Maka's game plan. She spread a map over the hood of a nearby car.

"We should start our search near Kīlauea," she said, pointing to an area in the south. "The pre-kishin has to be getting their volcanic glass from somewhere, and that's the most likely supply. Soul and I can scout ahead from the air. Black Star, Tsubaki, think you can start heading that way?"

"On it," Tsubaki said with a nod.

A voice sounded to their right. "Just got the call. Got room for two more?"

Soul looked and found Keon and Jinah strolling toward them. Jinah threw Tsubaki a wink and the shadow weapon smiled and lowered her eyes. When Keon smiled at Maka, Soul put a hand on either side of his meister's on the hood of the car, curving his body around hers.

"I won't say no to the extra help," Maka said. "This pre-kishin is fearless. How fast can you move?"

"Faster than a trade wind," Jinah said, her labret piercing flashing under her grin.

Maka's hair smelled good. Did her hair always smell this good? Everybody was still talking and all he could think about was whether her hair smelled more like mango or papaya. He should have slept more.

She shoved her shoulders into his chest, forcing him to back up so she could move.

"We good?" she said.

"Good," the others echoed.

"See you all in a bit." She folded up her map and walked off. Soul followed while the rest of their group split off. As he caught up to her, she reached out, her fingernails grazing along the inside of his forearm before she found his hand. She'd forgone her usual gloves in this environment.

He felt less tired now that he was out in the sunshine.

"Ready to fly?" she said, looking up at him.

"Born ready."

In a flash, he was hard steel in her hand, their souls falling into a familiar hum. Their flight was easy - she guided the way with a nudge of her hand or a squeeze of her thigh. Which was a good thing, considering he'd been paying approximately 0% attention to her directions. The island below them shifted, going from bright greens to blackened earth in the space of a heartbeat. In the distance, gray-blue smoke billowed out of a vent. That's what Maka aimed for.

The air grew steadily hotter as she guided them closer to the lava layers, her keen eyes peeled for movement. Every once in a while, there was a glimpse of streaky orange as they passed over a skylight in a lava tube and witnessed liquefied rock making its way toward the sea.

As they came up closer to the basin, Maka banked sharply to the left, bringing them around and halting in midair. She leaned forward, squinting through the escaping volcanic gasses. Soul searched and saw movement.

"There," she said. "His soul is burning up."

The man was hunched midway down the basin, situated precariously between several open lava tubes and vents. His pale skin glistened with sweat where it wasn't streaked with black ash and scarlet burns. He was prying something up off the ground, the muscles in his back rolling and straining.

Maka was about to turn back to find the others when they both noticed another flash of color nearby.

A child in a lime green shirt made a break for it, running several yards before stumbling. The pre-kishin was on him in an instant.

He could feel Maka's heart leap to her throat through her soul wavelength. He gave her a mental push and they were speeding toward the earth. Without missing a beat, he found the black piano he kept inside and played a series of chaotic, powerful notes, passing them through Maka, who infused them with two words - _Black Star_ - before he sent them out on a glowing mental thread that would lead Star straight to them. They couldn't wait. They just had to hope the others would find them quickly.

She swung her leg to the side and twirled him in the air before landing hard in a crouch in front of the pre-kishin and the struggling boy. Soul's blade slicked into position, ready for the fight.

The damaged soul grinned at them, saliva stringing from between his broken teeth. His fingernails were shredded and red as he raised a sharp slice of volcanic glass above his head. It cut into him, blood twining down his arm in rivulets even as the glass seared the cut closed. He didn't seem to mind.

"Pretty souls," he said. "So very pretty. I'll take them."

"Come get them," Soul sneered.

The pre-kishin leapt forward, but Maka was too quick. She blocked and swept his legs out from under him in a single fluid motion, bringing Soul's blade down hard into the thing's chest.

Unfortunately, the thing was pretty fast, too. He shifted enough to take the scythe in the shoulder and swiped with his own blade, a move that would have severed Maka's feet at the ankles if she hadn't used Soul to vault over him, her legs arcing smoothly through the air. When she landed, the monster's foot caught her hard in the solar plexus and she flew back.

The pre-kishin realized he'd underestimated them and snatched up the screaming child before launching straight into the air, bounding up the face of the basin like a mountain goat. Maka let fury flash across her face before she followed suit, using Soul for balance and leverage when necessary.

Dark rock shattered into splinters beneath her boots as she landed at the summit, approaching the pre-kishin as he stood at the brim with the kid. His eyes were crazed, but calculating.

"Careful," Soul said. "Don't make any stupid moves."

The basin scooped down into a bowl. The inside was mostly crusted over, but there were a few places where lava bubbled through, boiling and leaping for the open air amidst the escaping gasses. Maka paced back and forth, drawing the creature's gaze. His skin split at the seams with the heat and evil inside him.

Soul felt her attack the second before she made it. They bolted to the edge, forcing the pre-kishin away from the open air so they'd have more room to maneuver. She was driving him down so she could have the upper ground. They whirled and spun, his body moving around hers in a dance they'd been perfecting since the moment they partnered. He blocked the glass blade again, again, again, its heat barely a blip on his radar.

It was all so natural that they let their guard down. The monster threw the child, and Maka couldn't help but reach an arm to catch him. In that moment, the demon struck, getting through her defenses and laying her thigh open with his blade.

She yelled as the wound split and cauterized in the same instant, driving her down to a knee with the pain. Soul felt it with her, shared her seething rage at the insult. The child shivered into her, and it was another distraction. The pre-kishin pinned her with its knees heavy on her chest.

Soul was about to do whatever he had to do to protect his meister when a wild battle cry sounded from above and the pre-kishen was thrown by a solid double kick to the face. Black Star skidded to a stop in front of them, Tsubaki in her short blade form along his arm.

"I don't remember telling you two you could start the party without me," he called over his shoulder. "Uncool."

"Or me," Keon said from behind. He whirled a spear over his head, feathers and shark teeth sticking out along the shaft. He grasped Jinah in both hands, cracking her base into the ground. When he brought her back up, a second spearhead had formed at her other end, and both sides burst into flame.

Soul grinned, his own sharp teeth reflected in his blade. Maka pushed herself up, settling the child behind an outcropping.

The six of them formed a half-moon around the pre-kishin, whose eyes darted between them all, sizing them up. His tongue flitted from between his lips, sampling the blood leaking from his nose.

"So many strong souls," he said. "Such power."

Maka gave Soul a mental nudge and he complied, his music reaching out to touch the others and bring them into sync. There were the familiar flickers of Black Star and Tsubaki, and the less familiar impulsiveness of Jinah and level-headedness of Keon.

"Go," Maka said.

They convened on the pre-kishin, and to his credit, he gave them a run for their money. The volcanic glass blade whirled and sliced, occasionally nicking skin but causing no major injury. Still, it was enough for the monster to keep his own body protected, guiding them all closer to the edge. Keon slashed him hard across the chest, leaving his own seared scar.

In the end, before Black Star severed the thing in two, the creature managed to land a kick that stunned Maka so badly that she released Soul and flew ass-over-teakettle backward until she rested at the edge of the basin. His scythe form clattered to the earth and he shifted to flesh immediately, trying to get his feet under him, scrambling for her like clockwork.

The child had rushed to her side and was lifting her to her knees as the pre-kishin started to fade and unravel. Before he did, he screeched and threw his blade.

Soul watched in slow motion as Maka shoved the kid out of the way and took the piece of volcanic glass to the torso. It shattered and she lost her balance, falling, falling.

It was no problem. He was almost there. He'd never missed her before.

He reached the edge and stretched for her, ready to grasp her skirt or her ankle or anything he could grip.

His hand closed on empty air.

Blink. Blink.

She was falling, and this wasn't possible.

He grabbed again and met nothing.

Her body tumbled into steam and orange and emptiness and she wasn't there. His mouth formed her name, his lips pressing into a word he'd yelled a thousand times, and his voice wouldn't follow. His legs bent, his feet on the ground, and he made to jump after her. It was the only choice.

A hand yanked him hard by the collar, throwing him to his back on the hard stone.

"Don't be an idiot," Black Star said. Tsubaki shifted to dark katana form and he threw her into the earth. She sank into it like a hot knife into butter.

"Tsu," Star said.

"On it," she complied, ropes of shadow bursting from her to twine up Black Star's arm. He gripped them tight and leapt over the side.

Soul pushed himself back over, staring into the abyss, sweat dripping from his face like tears. They were still resonating; he could feel her. The thread was thin, stretched taut with distance, but she was there, gripping the side, fighting to live. Pain seared into her and he felt a ragged cry force its way out of him.

The moment stretched on, agonizing and infinite. It should be him. He smashed his palms into the jagged rock. Why was he so useless?

After a century, or maybe a minute, Tsubaki said, "I've got them."

The black shadow threads pulled, drawing something back up, and Black Star's bright blue hair came into view, his arms wrapped around Maka's body as they flew over the rim and crashed back to earth.

Tsubaki released her shadow form, returning to flesh.

"Maka," Soul croaked.

"Good thing you have fast reflexes, Short Stack," Black Star wheezed. "Else I never would have-"

He didn't finish because Soul shoved him out of the way, desperate to get to his meister. An angry red burn painted her lower leg and he hovered his hand over it, then searched all over, looking for injuries, pain, anything.

"You _never_ let me go," he yelled at her as she blinked up at him. "You know better."

He prodded her body, touching everywhere, not caring or hearing as she jabbered at him.

"You stupid jackass martyr," he said. "Never leave me behind where I can't guard you."

In an instant, his hand was on the back of her skull and his face smashed into hers, teeth cutting into the inside of his lips as their mouths crushed together.

Then his brain caught up with him and his eyes snapped open. He let her go and stared down at her, completely dumbfounded. A familiar flash lit her eyes and he waited for a fist to the jaw.

Instead, she shoved him in the chest, sending him flying flat on his ass. She pulled herself to standing, leaning on Black Star for support due to her stiff leg. Soul reached for her and she shifted away.

"I can walk," she said, releasing Star and limping until she could gather up the child, who clung to her for dear life. She stumbled a little as she passed Keon, and Jinah caught her under the arm, holding her as she walked. The weapon cast a confused, apologetic look over her shoulder, but dutifully supported her comrade.

Soul's breath caught in his throat. That was his job. If his meister was wounded, he carried her home. He stood, teetering, and Black Star caught his shoulder, looking up at him with something Soul couldn't decipher.

He bared his teeth, resisting the urge to deck the smirk off his friend's face.


	5. Light Goes Out

Soul wanted to go drown at the nearby beach. He wanted to curl up on his bed and sleep for twelve hours. He wanted to go drink himself into a stupor so he wouldn't have to think about how he'd completely lost his cool over something so ridiculous. They'd been through _way_ worse and he'd managed to come out without acting like a horse's ass.

The last thing he wanted to do was check in with Kid, but they'd promised Maka that they'd do it. Before she let them leave the medical facility where the doctor was patching her up, she'd used her _meister voice_ on him and a medical textbook on Black Star until they'd submitted.

He still wanted to disappear into himself when he thought of the way she kept refusing to meet his eye for more than a few seconds. Since he wasn't able to do that, he settled for a deep slouch-and-scowl combo while Tsubaki filled Kid in on the details of their latest victory.

"Is Maka gonna be okay?" Patty said, pawing at Kid so she could peek around him.

"The burn didn't look great, but the doctor said her wounds were mostly superficial," Tsubaki said. "He's sure she'll be fine when they're done with her."

Kid elbowed Patty out of the way. "All in all, it sounds like you made the best of an unfortunate situation. You saved the pre-kishin's next victim, and you should be proud. Soul, you and Maka were first on the scene. Do you have anything to add?"

"No," he said. "The thing was ugly, we fought it, we killed it. The end."

Kid shuffled in place, clearly taken aback by the edge in Soul's voice.

"Don't mind him," Black Star said, looking sidelong at the scythe. "He's just sore Maka didn't want to give him victory sugar on the volcano-top."

"Black Star," Tsubaki hissed, stepping on her meister's foot.

Liz gasped and Patty's eyes went wide, her mouth dropping into an "O." Kid just looked confused.

"I don't know what that means," the Death God said.

Black Star ignored Tsubaki's warnings and said, "He laid one on her and she knocked him on his ass, so now he's all pissy about it."

The bathroom where they were all gathered went very quiet. Soul had never wished to have laser vision so much in his entire damn life.

Kid broke the silence. "You kissed your meister during the fight?"

Soul shut his eyes and gritted his teeth. Were they seriously going to do this?

"It was after the fight, and it wasn't even a kiss," he said. "Why are we talking about it? It was a facebump, maybe. It just happened. Adrenaline, heat of battle, you know."

Everyone stared at him.

"You know, the bond between... you get all freaked out... when you're connected and things get all mixed up and... oh come on, assholes, haven't you all done the exact same thing?"

They all slowly shook their heads.

He scoffed and returned to his slouch. "You're all liars and you should feel bad about it."

"They _kissed?_" Liz said, leaning conspiratorially toward Tsubaki like the rest of the room couldn't hear while Patty giggled in the background. "Did he dip her?"

"It wasn't a godsdamned kiss," Soul said. "Drop it."

Kid raised a hand to quiet the noise. "Sorry, Soul, but this is concerning. What's going on over there?"

"Nothing! There is _nothing_ going on. I had an off day and things got weird. That's all. Won't happen again."

Black Star gave a pronounced cough that sounded suspiciously like "bullshit."

"You got something to say, Star, say it to my face," Soul snapped.

Black Star threw an arm around him. "Buddy. Pal. Brother-in-arms. C'mere. I'm going to tell you exactly what's going on. Come closer. Closer."

Soul begrudgingly leaned down so Black Star could get near his ear.

"Okay, here's the secret."

He took a deep breath.

"YOU HAVE. A KING KONG-SIZED BONER. FOR YOUR MEISTER. YOU IDIOT."

Soul jerked away, wiping the spittle from his cheek. "I do not!"

Black Star dismissed him with a wave of his hand. "Look, don't get me wrong, it makes me want to projectile vomit, but I understand that you're kind-of-human and therefore weak."

Liz and Patty both collapsed to the ground in fits of laughter.

"I do not have a... what the fuck is the matter with you?" Soul said.

"What's the matter with _you?_" Star said. "There are only a handful of manmade things on this planet that can be seen from space, and one of them is your boner."

"Is there an insanity wave incoming? I think it's getting to you," Soul said through clenched teeth.

"Dude, Crona is on the MOON and they can see the boner you have for her."

Kid was leaning forward to inspect Soul more closely. "He doesn't appear to have an erection presently." Soul put a hand in front of his crotch and gaped as Kid stood back up. "Did he have one out in the field? Am I misinterpreting a human euphemism?"

Patty pulled herself up, gasping through her laughter. "It means he looooooooves her and he wants to smoosh his smooshy bits with her smooshy bits until they have smooshy babies."

"Ah," Kid said. "In that case, yes, I agree, it seems plausible that you 'have a boner' for her."

Soul stared incredulously around the room. "What the _fuck_ is happening right now?"

Tsubaki pushed past Black Star and put a gentle hand on Soul's arm. "You guys, back off! I'm so sorry, it was extremely tactless of Black Star to bring this up in front of everyone."

"Thank you, _someone,_ for seeing sense," Soul said.

"But since it's already been said, you absolutely have a boner for her." She raised her fist to shoulder height and Black Star bumped it.

"Oh my gods," Liz wheezed, waving her hand in the air so they could see it. "You have to stop because _I am literally dying._"

Soul stamped his foot like a petulant child. "I am the Last Death Scythe and so help me, I will bring down every last one of you if you don't shut up."

Even Kid was smirking behind his hand. "You really ought to mind your tone when addressing the new Lord Death."

"I will Jackson Pollock every wall in your house, you bastard," Soul said.

The Shinigami cleared his throat. "Were we talking about something? I can't remember what we were discussing."

"Maka," Tsubaki said.

"Jesus Harold Christ on fucking melba toast, _I said lay off,_" Soul yelled.

Tsubaki waved her hands. "No no no, I mean _it's Maka,_ she's back." The shadow weapon pointed to the sliding glass door, where Maka was slowly limping up the path.

"And we're done," Soul said, grabbing Black Star by the collar and hauling him toward the hallway door. "Out. All of you, out."

Tsubaki breezed past him to open the door and made room for Soul to kick Star across the hall. She gave him an apologetic smile before exiting. Before he shut the door, Black Star yelled "use protection!"

He banged his head against the wood, then turned to find Kid still peering out of the mirror.

"Get lost," he said as he came closer. "You have your report."

"Soul."

"What?"

Kid finally looked serious. "Are you going to be able to focus on the mission, or do I need to pull you back?"

He scowled. "I'll be fine."

"All right." Kid regarded the weapon with a tilt of his head. "If it's any consolation, I understand what you see in her. Your bond is almost as strong as she is. It's why you work so well together."

"I absolutely did not ask for your thoughts on my relationship with my meister."

His friend arched an eyebrow. "So you have a relationship, then?"

"BYE."

A knock sounded on the glass of the sliding door, distracting him. When he glanced back at the mirror, it was blank. He looked over his reflection, trying to rid his face of agitation before he answered the knock. Good enough.

He walked across the room and unlocked the door before going to the nightstand and pretending to fiddle with the clock. Maka slid it open and shut, locking it behind her.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," he said. "They fix you up?"

"Mostly, yeah."

He risked a glance at her and found that she was looking at him and worrying her hands. A pair of clear bandages stretched across her leg and she was still covered in smudges, but otherwise she looked fine.

Her tongue flitted between her lips and she looked down. "Look, about earlier..."

"It was an accident," he said.

"An accident?" She looked back up at him, her brow furrowed.

He put the clock down. "I mean, not an accident, but it wasn't planned. You just..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I thought for a second that you were gone. I was riding an adrenaline high and I freaked out."

She nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense. And I'm sorry that I, you know. Overreacted."

"If you didn't overreact, you wouldn't be you." He let a smile touch his mouth. She returned it.

With a wince, she pulled at her hair, undoing the ties. "I'm gonna take a shower. You want to watch TV or something when I'm done?"

"I actually think I'm going to hit the sack," he said with a nod to his bed. "I could use the extra shut eye after the last few days."

"Okay," she said, yanking out her other pigtail. "I brought books to read."

"You always do."

She threw him a chuckle before heading for the bathroom and leaving the door barely cracked for steam to escape. He let his own smile fall, shaking his head before undressing and crawling into bed. As soon as he laid down, his friends' accusations rang through his skull again.

He hunkered under his thin sheet, grumbling bitterly into his pillow. It was an off day. Lots of stress. Piss-poor sleep. He hadn't been himself. Everyone was stupid and wrong and _stupid_ and seeing things that weren't there and also really, really stupid.

The squeak of a faucet reached his ears, followed by the hiss of water hitting porcelain.

So ridiculous. He didn't have a _boner_ for her, and the implication was insulting and uncool on so many levels.

Clothes whispered as they fell onto the bathroom tiles.

Just because the rest of his friends had a hard time with the Lust chapter didn't mean they had to project on him. He and Maka had done just fine with that little mindfuck, thank you very much. They knew what they were about.

She went "ah-ah" when she tested the water and readjusted the faucets.

He did _not_ have a boner for her.

Water hit skin and she sighed.

Something stirred in him, low and aching.

"Fuck."

"Soul?" Her words trailed out with the steam floating through the cracked door. "Did you say something?"

He rolled onto his stomach. "No."

* * *

><p>The sleep was a little better than the night before, but not by much. His dreams were punctuated with flashes of skin and tongue and hitched breath, and every time, his brain would claw to the surface of consciousness to escape, leaving him groggy and overheated before he dropped off again.<p>

Then he was back on the black sea, staring at the red door. The walls around it splintered, cracks spiderwebbing across the plaster.

_No,_ he thought. _No, no. Stay in there._

He pressed his palms flat to the wall, pushing it back as it bowed out, smoothing it down. Years ago, he'd locked this door tight against the monsters inside so he could start fresh, and like hell he was going to let them out now. Not even the black blood had gotten to them. He wasn't about to let some stupid little spark burn through.

The voices whispered through the cracks. _Not enough. Push harder. Disappointment. Lazy. Waste. Why can't you be like him? We rolled the dice and this time we lost._

"Shut up," he said. "I don't care what you think. Not anymore."

Inside were a child's tears, and he hadn't been a child for a long time. He was cool now. Good at something that mattered. The things in there made him weak, all of them.

Even the nice things. Even the things that were something like love. He'd had to let it all go to keep moving.

Now there was only loyalty, and carefully measured friendship, and a sardonic grin. That was all he needed. It was all anyone could expect of him.

The voices faded and he started to relax.

Before they went, five words crawled into his ear and settled there.

_You're still nothing without her._

He sat up in bed, grimacing and pinching the bridge of his nose. His eyes felt dried out, blurry with sleep. The horizon was starting to go green through the windows.

A thin sheen of sweat made the sheets stick to him and he decided he'd rather shower than thrash around in bed for another hour. His footfalls were quiet, mindful of waking Maka, and he shut the door completely before turning on the light.

He didn't even bother with the warm water, letting it run as cold as it would go before he stepped in. It shocked his skin and he sank into it, dipping his head and pressing his hands against the tiles so the water ran across the back of his neck. There. That helped.

The faucet squeaked as he shut it off and dried himself, rubbing the towel over his hair until it stuck up every which way before he grabbed a band to hold it back out of his eyes. He changed in the lingering dark, shucking on shorts and a tank top.

Maka stirred, her long legs making her bedding sigh.

"Soul? What're you..." she mumbled. Her sleep-steeped voice stoked the coals in his belly.

"Go to sleep," he said softly over his shoulder. "I'm just gonna go for a walk. I'll be back soon."

"M'kay," she said, going quiet behind him.

He picked up his room key and slipped out, walking through the eerily silent motel lobby. A lone desk clerk gave him a tired, automatic smile, which he returned with a wave of his hand before exiting out into the humid morning air.

The world around him still smelled like fire and salt and flowers as he meandered down the road. The sky had gone rosy pink and dull orange, reminding him of the rainbow shower trees from the luau. Had that only been two nights past? Waves rushed up on shore, whispering secrets, telling him to roll the marbles in his mind.

So he did.

Soul wasn't so good with squishy-squashy vulnerable feelings, but he wasn't stupid. He'd known attraction. Desire. Lust. He knew that's what he was feeling now, he just couldn't reconcile that it was connected to his partner. Maka was friend, meister, classmate, roommate. Maybe even family, if he still knew or cared what family meant. That made all of those things one million percent more complicated, because it wasn't something he could tuck away and laugh with Black Star about. Maka wasn't a file in the spank bank. She was _more,_ and more was dangerous.

He liked girls. He liked them a lot, in fact. It just didn't matter. Girls wanted things from him that he couldn't give, so it was easier not to get involved. Once in a while, during a weak moment, he'd kissed a particularly cute one, but he'd always felt like shit afterward when she wanted to do it again and he didn't, because doing it again would mean stirring things up inside_,_ and fuck that. That shit caused missteps.

There was no way he could drag Maka into it. He wasn't unlocking his messed up room for anyone, and his feet had led him to a different colored door.

Yellow and red hibiscus bushes lined the path up to Keon's place, and he had to bang on the blue door for a minute straight before the Hawaiian meister answered, blinking owlishly at him through messy black bangs.

Soul pushed his way inside, scrubbing his fingers through his hair.

"Aloha kakahiaka to you, too," Keon said. "There a problem?"

"I need it out," Soul said.

Keon closed the door and leaned back against it with his arms crossed. "Maybe it's the early hour, but I'm not following you."

Soul waved his hand over his chest. "The fire. The heat. Whatever you called it. I need it out of me. It's fucking up my situation and I need a cure."

The tall boy blinked once, slowly, before breaking into rumbling laughter. He managed to calm himself and wipe most of the mirth from his face. "Oh, you poor kid. You got it bad, huh?"

"It doesn't matter how bad I have it. How do you dispel it?"

Now Keon's smile faded completely. "You misunderstood me, brother. I'll forgive you the insult to Pele, seeing as you're used to dealing with witches, and that's what you know. There's nothing to dispel."

A lump rose high in his throat. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that this isn't some spell. It's not magic." Keon placed his hand over his own chest. "It's nature, and nature always takes the path of least resistance. What's happening in you is what your soul wants."

Soul worked his mouth, but no sound came out. He wanted to say that was stupid, that it was fucked up, that it was bullshit. The words wouldn't come.

Keon shook his head. "The kindling was already there. Pele just gave it a little spark. Whether or not the fire catches has always been up to you."

He grasped on that and bit down like a pitbull. "So I can control it, is what you're saying?"

The meister sighed. "You can try and divert the flow, but I promise you that you'll only end up hurting yourself, and probably other people in the meantime."

"I'm pretty good at hurting myself. I can deal with it. Sorry I woke you." He made to leave, but Keon didn't move out of the way.

"What you so afraid of?" the other boy said, catching his eye and holding it.

Soul didn't look away. "There are walls inside me that can't come down. I put them there for a reason."

Keon shrugged. "Maybe your heart's telling you that reason's not good enough anymore. I'd listen. You can't love well when you got all that fear and envy tangled up inside, brother."

"I didn't say anything about love," Soul said, lips pulling back to expose the points of his teeth.

"You been saying it every time you're near her."

A jolt kicked Soul's heart square in the ass, sending it fluttering around his chest like a freaked out bird. "We're not like that."

"If you say so." Keon moved aside to let Soul open the door and slip back out into the sticky morning.

After he'd shut the door back up and slid the deadbolt, Jinah slinked out from where she'd been hiding in the hall. She covered her yawn with the back of her hand and shook her head.

"That one, I tell you," she said. "Malihini never know what's good for them, hey?"

"Nah," Keon said. "Not 'til they get burned. I'm going back to sleep."

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN:** "Aloha kakahiaka" = "good morning" and "malihini" = newcomer/visitor/person unfamiliar with the culture of the islands._


	6. Ca Me Vexe

**A/N:** Chapter update activated! Thank you so much to everyone who has read, reviewed, and otherwise commented, both here and Tumblr. Extra thanks to the helpful reader who sent me a quick correction when this first went up on Tumblr! I AM A PERFECTIONIST AND I THANK YOU.

* * *

><p>Soul kicked at a bit of coral on the sand in front of him, dawdling. The Hawaiian meister had implied he could put a lid on this thing, and godsdamn it, that's what he was going to do.<p>

The beach was mostly quiet in the morning sunlight, but people were slowly starting to emerge. A pair of surfers had bolted by him already, diving into the blue water and popping up farther out, where they sat on their boards waiting for good waves. He'd been sprawled on the sand for a while now, long enough for a greenish-black honu to creep up on the beach for a rest. It blinked at him before shuffling itself back into the water and swimming away.

That's what he needed. A shell. It might help protect him from the heat that set the blood in his body simmering.

With a grunt, he pushed himself to his feet. Maka was probably awake by now and wondering where the hell he'd gone. He couldn't avoid her forever, so he might as well head back.

A pair of joggers slowed as they passed him on the other side of the road, staring openly. His hand went automatically to the edge of the scar peeking out from the scooped neck of his tank top, then to his hair. Living in Death City often made him forget how unusual he looked to civilians.

He flashed them a shark-toothed grin and felt pleased when one of them stumbled into the other and looked away. It helped banish some of the tightness in his gut.

Before he knew it, he was standing in front of their motel room door. He swallowed.

It wouldn't be a problem. He'd shut it away, just like everything else, and things would go back to the way they were. He had this.

His heart was stone. His face was neutral. His hands were steady.

The lock clicked and he pushed the door open. Maka's head snapped up from where she stood sifting through clothes at the foot of her bed. Golden sunshine lit her hair and face as she smiled. Her overlarge sleep shirt dipped to one side, exposing a bare shoulder.

"There you are," she said. "I was waiting."

It all came completely unglued as his heart pushed his pulse toward the triple digits, bursting through the crust he'd just encased it in to pound against his ribs.

"Waiting for what?" he said. His tongue felt like lead, but at least the muscle memory in his face kept his impassive front up. For now.

"For you to get back here so we could go get something to eat. Jinah called a bit ago and said we could all meet up with her and Keon at the training center for a workout." She selected an outfit from the pile on the bed.

He had no trouble responding naturally to that. "Ugh, you're going to make me _train?_ The constant fighting hasn't been enough for you?"

Maka took a familiar battle stance - hand on hip, head tilted, expression unamused. "This mission is one part exterminating pre-kishin and one part cultural exchange. They have a unique fighting style and we can learn from each other."

"Uuuuuuuuuuugh," he said, faceplanting into his bed. "You're such a workaholic _nerd._"

"My nerdiness has saved our lives countless times and you are a giant whiny baby." She nudged him with her foot. "You look like a scrub. Get changed and then we can go get some shave ice for breakfast."

He snorted into a pillow and turned to look at her. "Ice cream for breakfast?"

She shrugged. "I hurt my leg and I'll do what I want. Besides, they put fruit in it. That's breakfast-y."

When she slipped into the bathroom to get ready, he complied with her request, changing into something slightly more presentable than a tank top. He was flipping through television channels - heavy rains expected tomorrow - when Maka came out. She was wearing a brightly-patterned sundress that went to mid-thigh. He tore his eyes away from her legs.

"That's workout material?" he drawled.

"I can move in it," she said. "Let's go."

Minutes later, they were strolling into town, passing by a variety of shops that were just starting to open. He waited while Maka eyed a few skirts in the window, and while she ducked into another shop to buy several gifts for Liz and Patty. Her voice filled his ears while they walked and he let her talk, relishing in the complete normality of the routine. Maybe he'd wound himself up for nothing. His heart had stopped trying to punch its way out of his chest, anyway.

Still, every now and again, he'd glance over at her and feel _pulled._ He ignored the impulse.

The shave ice shack was barely opening up its shutters for the day when Maka swooped in. A woman with a warm smile and crinkled eyes leaned over the counter, ready to serve her first customer. Soul eyed the list of available flavors and additions. It was absolutely massive, featuring everything from gummy candy to azuki beans to tapioca pearls.

He settled for a scoop of vanilla ice cream covered in strawberry shave ice with a drizzle of condensed milk. Probably a toothache waiting to happen, but it sounded good. Maka listed off so many flavors that he couldn't keep track.

They settled on a bench under the trees to watch the ocean while they ate. Soul had never had shave ice before - snow cones, yes, but this was much more like real snow than that crunchy, pellet-y stuff. He liked it. It melted on his tongue instantly, leaving a pool of sweetness behind.

Maka was still yapping about every topic that entered her head. "The history of these islands is seriously amazing. Did you know most of the plant and animal life isn't native? It was brought over from other places by settlers and visitors."

"I'm pretty sure that's how islands work," Soul said, his words a little thick through his numb mouth. "Isolated land and all."

She shot him an exasperated look. "I meant within the last few hundred years. Before that, everything that grew here came naturally by wind or sea. There are so many birds that ended up here and evolved into something totally unique… like the dozens of species of honeycreepers."

Soul chuckled. "Honeycreepers, heh."

That got him an eyeroll before she continued. "And the social history! I could go on for days."

"Please don't," he said.

She ignored him. "Did you know there was an attempted rebellion in the 1800's that tried to overthrow the monarchy of the island? Pele wouldn't allow it. Whenever outsiders tried to take advantage, she made them regret it. It's why the islands are still sovereign today. How does this not fascinate you?"

She flung her spoon as she spoke and a dribble of ice and cream plopped onto her bare shoulder. It made her wince and she went to brush it away.

Before she could, Soul automatically leaned down and licked it off, drawing his tongue over her like he'd planned to do it the whole time. He hadn't. When he tasted the sugar and salt of her skin on his tongue, his entire brain screeched _what the fuck you fucking fool_ at him right before Maka cuffed him in the ear.

"_Gross,_ Soul," she scolded, using the palm of her hand to wipe at the slobber he'd left on her.

_Code red code red panic mode activated think fast you godsdamned dimwit!_

"I don't let good food go to waste," he managed, lifting another spoonful from his own cup to his mouth and feigning nonchalance."Got you to stop talking, too."

She huffed and went back to eating after a final wipe at her shoulder.

_Nailed it, _he tried to tell himself while simultaneously hoping she didn't notice that he'd broken into a sweat. He needed to get a grip. His mouth still tasted a little like salt and _something,_ a flavor that he didn't recognize but knew all the same. He wanted to taste it again and turned his face away so he wouldn't be tempted.

Christ, he was in serious trouble. He'd convinced himself he was fine, but he wasn't. Other girls never gave him these problems, but Maka was so constant, so familiar. Touching her was as natural as breathing, which turned out to be a big problem when touching suddenly went from daily routine to sending-tingles-to-the-danger-zone.

Without warning, she stood and dumped her empty cup in the nearby trash. "We'd better get going," she said, pointing to a nearby clock. "I told Jinah we'd meet them at 10. Black Star and Tsubaki are probably already there."

"Mm-kay," he said around his spoon. After he'd ditched his own stuff, she grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked him along behind her. He pried her fingers loose, trying to ignore the slight shake in his own hand.

Get it together. Build the wall. Be cool.

The training center was nearby, and they spotted the others right away on the open floor. Giant sliding pocket doors with floor-to-ceiling windows lined the opposite end, and they'd been partially pushed open to allow the island breeze from the lanai inside. Black Star, who'd been sparring with Tsubaki, turned and raised his hand.

"You're late," he shouted. "Long night? Long, quiet, missionary kinda night?"

Soul narrowed his eyes.

"We went to bed early, actually," Maka said as she slipped off her shoes before walking out to meet them. She either didn't register Black Star's words or didn't care.

"Oh really?" Black Star leaned around her to beam at Soul.

"They're on Hawaiian time," Keon said, throwing a look at Soul's tensing shoulders. "It happens."

Soul kicked off his own shoes and strolled out. "I heard we were training?"

They broke off into two groups, meisters on one side, weapons on the other. Jinah asked to see Soul's Death Scythe blade and he showed her, the black and white piano keys stretching down his limb. She was fascinated by his advanced abilities and sounded a little wistful that she'd never get to discover her own. Even so, she had things to show them, too. She shamelessly flirted with a blushing Tsubaki as she positioned their hips and feet, showing them how, with practice, they could achieve the same flow and control she had when she danced.

Every now and again, he'd cast a glance over to Maka's side, where Keon taught her similar grounding techniques. His blood pressure spiked a hair when he saw the boy's hand on his meister's lower back and he tried to reel it in. Keon had made it pretty clear he wasn't going to try anything. Still.

"'Ey, frowny-face," Jinah said, snapping her fingers by his head to get his attention. "Maybe you're ready for a break, hey? Go sit 'til your head's back on." She jerked her thumb toward the benches against the wall.

With a mumbled apology, Soul did as he was told. He hadn't really wanted to train, anyway... even if he was still a little envious of Jinah's dancing.

He had about two minutes alone with his thoughts before Black Star came over and sank down in the seat next to him. Soul closed his eyes, sighing and waiting for the next onslaught of asshattery.

"So did you guys make out like the awkward penguins that you are or what?" Star said, bobbing his head like a bird pecking at something.

"Can we not do this?" Soul asked, refocusing his attention on his meister and Keon.

Black Star pinched his cheek. "You're blushing like a freaking schoolgirl. Gross."

Soul knocked his hand away. "I don't fucking blush. You're fishing."

"Then quit being a mopey sad sack. It's so boring."

"Go away."

Star kicked him in the leg. "Man, I'm seriously just trying to help. You need to get your rocks off so badly that it's actually physically painful for me to watch."

Soul shot him an angry glare. "Oh my weeping gods, you are the worst person in the universe. Why are we friends?"

"We're friends because I'm a perfect specimen of masculinity to which you aspire and I take pity on you. Do you see that thing that's happening right over there?" He pointed at Tsubaki and Jinah, who were sharing secret smiles and getting very chummy with their close combat training. Black Star pointed at his own head. "Do you see this face? Stoic as Siddhartha."

Soul scowled.

"That pissy shit, right there, is what you look like every time the giant island dude comes within two feet of Maka. Either cut that fuckery out or make a move."

"Whatever you think is going on," Soul said, leaning back against the wall and letting his hair cover his eyes, "you're wrong."

Black Star shook his head. "Last chance, dude. Do something about it or shit's about to get real uncomfortable in here. You're forcing my hand."

"Go find something shiny to chase."

"I warned you." Black Star stood up and went to rejoin the meisters.

Keon had his hands on Maka's hips and was showing her how to move them when Black Star came up behind them. Soul lifted his gaze and listened, wary.

He heard Black Star say, "Maka's a kinesthetic learner. Maybe I can help."

Soul scoffed. Maka was an everything learner.

Keon raised an eyebrow and released the scythemeister. Then Black Star grabbed Maka from behind and pulled her flush against his body. She seemed a little put out, but he whispered something in her ear and she nodded.

Black Star bent his knees, forcing hers to go along for the ride as he spread one palm over her belly and used the other hand to run down her thigh.

"Like this," he said. "Move with me."

By now, Jinah and Tsubaki had stopped to watch, too. Keon facepalmed nearby.

Now Black Star moved his hips side to side, and Maka's followed. Soul was instantly reminded of their dance at the luau, among other things. Now-familiar heat crept up his neck even as he fought to keep from showing his teeth. Star was goading him and he wasn't going to break.

The movement of Black Star's hips took a decidedly R-rated turn as he started to roll and grind them into Maka. She played along, though her brow was starting to furrow.

"It's all in the hips," Star said. "All in the hipsssssss."

Soul's temperature was reaching dangerous levels, his fingernails digging into his arms. To his frenzied internal loathing, a deep cavern of _want_ yawned wide in his guts. He wanted to rock into Maka like that and he hated himself for it. Still, he held back. It was only a matter of time.

Maka was definitely frowning now. "I don't see how this is help-" She stopped, the bewilderment on her face bypassing anger and going straight to rage.

There it was.

His meister broke free, whirled, and punched Black Star square in the face. He went down like a sack of bricks.

"Are you kidding me?" Maka screamed at him. "You nasty freaking troll!"

Soul finally let his teeth show in the form of a proud, wide grin. Him and Maka one, Black Star zero.

Star lay flat on his back, a hand over his gushing nose. He raised the other one to give a thumbs up. "Worth the look on your face," came his garbled reply.

Maka kicked him for good measure.

Jinah was curled in the fetal position on the floor and laughing so hard she could barely breathe while Tsubaki shifted from foot to foot, looking concerned about Black Star but not enough to help him up. Keon's hand still half-covered his face, but his smile was showing in the crinkle of his eyes. Soul got up to rejoin his meister, resting a hand on her head and smirking down at Black Star.

"You had that coming, man," Soul said.

Maka shot him a glare. "Did you know he was going to do that?"

"Nope."

"Good." She kicked the assassin again. "Pig."

There wasn't any way they could get their focus back on training, particularly considering Jinah was still wheezing on the floor, so they decided to call it a day. Tsubaki helped Black Star to his feet, giving him a firm smack upside the head before she let him put his arm around her shoulders. They all congregated out front, where Maka put a hand on Keon's arm to hold him up. Soul smoothed the frown that tried to furrow his brow.

"So I was thinking of trying to locate the other pre-kishin tonight," she said.

"Oh?" Keon said. "You need backup?"

Jinah came up beside her meister, clutching her side and looking interested.

"No, I didn't mean to fight, sorry. It's just… Soul and I have used Soul Perception in the past to locate specific souls. The last two seem to be lying low for now, so I think it's time to pull out the big guns."

A ghosting of pride flickered in Soul as Jinah looked at him, impressed.

"You can do that?" she asked.

He shrugged like it was no big deal. "It's how we found Asura."

"Nice."

"Anyway," Maka said, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. "Where's the best vantage point on the island?"

"Mauna Kea, no doubt," Jinah said, and Keon nodded in agreement. "Though you shouldn't go above the tree line. The summit is Poli'ahu's ground, and you're only allowed there by invitation. Not even Pele goes up that way without permission."

Keon pointed inland. "Just head mauka and up about halfway," he said. "There's camping there. Can't miss it… choice stargazing. Best on the island." His eyes shifted to Soul, glinting with amusement.

Soul ignored it. "Ma-what?" he said.

"He means fly toward the mountain, dumb-dumb," Jinah said. "And be careful. You won't be the first to get height-sick unless you go slow."

Keon scratched his chin. "If you plan on staying the night, we got camp gear." He looked them up and down. "You should dress up warm, too."

Soul snorted. "What for?"

Maka elbowed him. "Because it can get below freezing up there, that's why."

"Seriously?" He rubbed his ribs where she'd jabbed him. "In the tropics?"

"Read a book, Soul."

Jinah and Keon looked at each other, lazy smiles on their faces. Keon jerked his head.

"Come on," he said. "We'll get you set up. You find what you're looking for, you drop us a line and we'll come running."

Maka followed the pair and Soul slouched behind with a sigh. Just when he was starting to enjoy the thick heat, it was back to roughing it on a mountainside, and he hated the cold.


	7. Little Talks

The higher altitude of Mauna Kea wasn't just cold in the fading daylight. It was _fucking freezing._

Soul sat on a rock by the overlook near their tiny rented cabin, hunkering down inside the collar of the jacket he'd borrowed from Keon. It was too big on him, since the other boy was wider in the shoulders and, annoyingly, a few inches taller. A stiff breeze ruffled his hair and he swore colorfully into his pulled-to-the-very-top zipper. It didn't help that he was getting the first hints of a headache. Damn his stupid pride and refusing to take the offered altitude sickness pills.

The air didn't smell as good up here. He'd grown fond of the sticky, smoky sweetness of the island, but up here it was all ice and stone. Trees in the area were sparse and twisted, and he had to keep throwing his patented GTFO glare at wild goats and sheep that wandered too close.

At least the sunset was sort of pretty from this angle. It distracted him from his swirling thoughts.

Before they'd left Keon and Jinah's place, Tsubaki had stopped by. Soul nodded to her, figuring she was there for Jinah, but she'd asked to speak to him and they'd walked outside past the hibiscus bushes.

"Look," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "If this is about Black Star, he asked for it."

"Oh, he definitely asked for it," she agreed. "That's not why I wanted to talk. I actually wanted to talk about Maka."

"Come on," Soul said, rolling his eyes. "Would you all just let it go already?"

She put a hand on his arm. "I'm not trying to give you a hard time, I promise. Black Star's been a real jerk about it lately, but you know him. Whatever you've got going on, that's your business, and I'm not here to make assumptions or push."

"Good." He swiped absently at a flower that was tickling his elbow.

"I just think..." She released her breath slowly and looked down, fidgeting. "You've been surly lately. Moreso than usual. We're your friends and we can deal with it, but I think it's getting to Maka."

He blinked. He hadn't been expecting that. "What makes you think so?"

"She worries about you," Tsubaki said. "She can tell something's bothering you and it's killing her not knowing what it is, but she won't ask, because she's Maka and you're you. And..." she trailed off.

"And?" he prompted.

She looked him full in the face, her indigo eyes sinking into him. "And if you're not careful, you're going to break whatever it is you have. If that's okay with you, then you might want to let her know before she gets hurt."

Deep inside, Soul felt the flames licking at his locked room, causing more cracks to form from the heat.

"I'd never hurt Maka," he said. "You know that."

"Hm," Tsubaki said with a sad smile. "There's more than one way to hurt somebody."

She'd walked away then, leaving him absent-mindedly fiddling with the scar tissue stretched over his chest. That had been hours ago, and now here he was, still dwelling on it through the ache in his head.

The soft crunching of footsteps behind him gave him enough forewarning to school his features blank. Maka sat down beside him, stretching her long legs against the ground and leaning against his side for warmth. She handed over a steaming bowl of something-or-other.

"What's this?" he asked as he accepted the food. A contented sigh escaped him as it warmed his stiff fingers.

"Keon packed some leftover rice with spam and egg for us. There was only a hotplate in the cabin, so I hope it's hot enough."

He'd already shoveled a forkful into his mouth. "S'fine," he said. Not exactly a four-star meal, but it was salty and filling. His stomach rumbled in appreciation.

They ate in silence. The cold seemed to still Maka's tongue, and it had the dual effect of distracting him enough that he wasn't constantly thinking about everywhere she touched him. They shivered against one another. By the time they were done, the sun was nothing but a thin line of red-violet bleeding into blue-black on the horizon. The moonless night stretched above them and Maka flicked on a camp lantern so they wouldn't be in total darkness.

"Wow," she breathed, green eyes wide as she searched the sky. "Keon wasn't kidding about the stars, huh?"

Soul followed her gaze and felt his eyebrows tick up as he took in the constellations. The atmosphere was so clear and still, and the mountainside so dark, that the entire universe practically opened up before them, looking like someone spilled diamond dust across ebony marble. Even when they'd been on missions in the deep desert with no cities around for miles, he couldn't recall seeing a sky like this. A streak of stars clustered together overhead to form a brushstroke of the Milky Way and Soul suddenly felt so, so small.

One spot in the night sky remained completely star-free, like a black hole hanging above them. He felt Maka draw a shuddering breath and knew that's where she was looking, too.

"You thinking about Crona again?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said. No point in denying it. "I wish I knew what to do."

Soul swiped his thumb across his bottom lip, leaving a dusty taste lingering there. "You'll figure it out sooner or later. We won't give up."

The word "we" felt heavy in his mouth as he thought of Tsubaki's words.

Maka's fingers wrapped around his forearm and squeezed.

"We should try to find those pre-kishin," she said.

"Yeah, okay."

He stood, following her to the edge of the overlook. The island was dark save the glittering lights of the towns scattered below them. If there were other campers around, they hadn't crossed paths. It felt very much like being alone at the edge of the world, looking down as people continued on their merry way.

She stood in front of him, head bowed. In the dim light, he could only see the outline of her, but his memory filled in the gaps. As they'd done before, he spread his hands over her shoulders, dipping his face down near the nape of her neck. He felt her fingers brush his and her soul reached out.

When they began to fall into resonance, he touched something vast and overwhelming. It made him start and take a step back.

"What's wrong?" Maka said.

"Bug in my ear," he said. "Sorry."

She breathed a little laugh and he got back into position. They tried again.

Tsubaki was in his head, telling him he could hurt her. Crona stared down and Maka met their eyes with a loving smile.

"Shit," he said, dropping his hands. "I need a minute."

He couldn't see her face when she turned her head to look at him, but he could picture her concerned expression nonetheless. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I just need a minute."

She didn't push, which just made him feel worse. He needed to get things locked down. Scrunching his eyes shut, he emptied his mental vault of distractions. He poked around in his chest and found the room with the red door, shoving it further back and reinforcing the walls.

They tried to resonate for almost an hour before she finally heaved an exasperated sigh and turned on him.

"Spill it," she said.

"I don't know," he snapped. "My head hurts."

It wasn't a lie. The little pulse in his brain stem had spread to encompass his entire skull, pounding with every heartbeat and making him miserable and annoyed.

He could hear her tapping her foot against the rocky ground and waited for a scolding. Instead, she took his hand and led him back to the rock they'd been sitting on before. He accidentally kicked their discarded bowls over in the dark.

Maka sat him down and huffed. "You really should have just taken the pills."

"Yeah, thanks, _Mom,_" he said. "What are you doing?"

She walked around to stand behind him. "Getting the tension out. Stop whining."

"What does that..."

He trailed off as her nimble fingers pressed against the column of his neck, prodding, looking for stiff muscle. They moved to his shoulder and he grunted as she worked a knot he didn't even know was there. It hurt, but it was a good hurt, the heel of her palm loosening it with warmth and pressure. He heard the snaps of her gloves come undone and his eyes went heavy-lidded when she pulled off his hairband and ran her fingers from the base of his skull through his hair and over his scalp, nails scraping just enough to make gooseflesh prickle down his arms.

Two fingers went to each temple, then the space above his eyebrows, and he didn't know how she was doing it, but the headache actually drained away, going from needles in his brain back to a dull-but-tolerable throb.

"Hmmm," he hummed as her hands spread wider, trailing down past his ears and along the line of his jaw. Now that the pain was dissipating, he started to simply enjoy her touch, the feel of her fingers. It made pleasant heat bloom in his belly, spreading to arms and legs and neck and...

He didn't notice she'd leaned in closer until he felt her searing breath against his chilled ear. "Is that better?"

His eyes snapped open and he stood, pulling out of her reach.

"Much better," he said. He sounded like he'd just run a mile. "Thanks."

_Shut it down, jackass. Shut it down now._

"You ready to try again?" she asked.

"I think I need a walk," he muttered, digging into the jacket's deep pockets for a flashlight as he turned away from her, heading into the dark.

"Wha...? Soul!"

He grimaced as she grabbed the sleeve of his jacket and pulled him around.

"I'm trying to be patient here, I really am, but this is our job," she said. "You can't just dick around on this. What's going on?"

"Maybe I'm tired of _work,_" he said. "Maybe I thought I could handle this and now I'm realizing I can't. Maybe I never really wanted to do it in the first place. Maybe I thought I was proving something."

She let go of him. "That doesn't sound like you at all. Since when do you run from a fight?"

"What else is there?" He flailed his arms at the whole world. "We fought the big evil. Now it's always going to be cleaning up little messes or sweeping up mediocre trash pre-kishins. Where's the challenge?"

Maka was silent for a long minute. "Protecting people isn't a challenge, it's an imperative. You know that better than anyone. I know you do."

"Maybe I'm not the weapon you thought I was." The words cracked on his tongue, leaving the sour taste of bad memory in his mouth. "Just leave me behind. It's fine."

He didn't let her respond before he stormed off, something wild and unholy clawing at his insides. It made his eyes burn. When he'd walked for a while, he stopped, swaying on his feet. His fingers went to his hair. They were shaking, and they were a poor substitute for hers.

What the hell was he doing? Hadn't the point of walling off all of this ridiculous touchy-feely bullshit been so that he could maintain their partnership, not destroy it? _Bang up fucking job there, Soul, you enormous fucking doucherocket. What is your brain._

_You're still nothing without her._

Then a tiny force of nature crashed into him from behind, almost pitching him forward. Two little iron bands in the shape of arms wrapped around him, one curling around his waist and the other pressing a clutched fist over his heart. He forgot how to breathe.

"Stupidass," Maka said, her voice half-caught in his jacket. "Do you forget how well I know you? I don't know what's eating you, but I know when I shouldn't listen to whatever's coming out of your mouth. You're the strongest, bravest person I know."

Breathing functionality restored, he sucked in frozen mountain air and didn't answer. Her hand over his heart was pressing hard against the wall inside and he didn't know how long it would hold up. Already a storm welled in him, filling him up to the throat and making it ache.

"I'll be in the cabin when you're ready to come back," she said as she let him go, her footsteps retreating behind him.

The places her arms touched felt like brands against his skin and he stayed rooted in place. He bit his lip hard to keep it from quivering. Something that felt mysteriously like tears prickled at his eyes, which was stupid as hell because he didn't cry. He never cried. Not anymore. He rubbed at them impatiently and ignored the streak of wet that went icy on his hand.

He leaned his head back and took in the sky, admitting to the swirling stars that he was well and truly fucked and he hadn't the slightest idea what to do about it.

"What would you do, huh?" he croaked at the black hole where the moon should be.

There was a smile there, a hand held out, and he knew what Crona would do. Crona would go find Maka. Crona would be a friend.

So he turned on his heel and started back. It took a lot of wandering and stumbling and swearing, since he hadn't exactly paid attention to where he was going before, but eventually he found their cabin. She was there, legs crossed on her raised camp bed and reading by lamplight. When she looked up, her smile was a little sad, but a smile all the same.

He crumpled into sitting on the bed next to her, not quite meeting her eye. "I'm sorry I'm so fucked up," he said. It was the only thing he could think of.

"To be fair, we're both pretty fucked up," she said. "It's okay. Let's just go to sleep and try again in the morning."

He nodded, gratefully collapsing into bed without removing anything but his shoes and hoping sleep would come quickly.

It didn't. It was so fucking cold, and worse, he could hear Maka shuddering and chattering her teeth next to him. After thirty minutes of his muscles tying themselves back into a million knots after she'd so painstakingly soothed them out, he gave in, his overtired mind not giving anything resembling a shit anymore. He got up and shoved his bed over until it was right against hers.

"What's up?" she mumbled.

"It's too cold," he said, throwing his blanket over the both of them. With one hand, he unzipped his jacket and pulled her close until her spine molded to his chest before he wrapped his jacket over the both of them as much as it would go. His arm snaked around her and he curled his legs up, pressing as much of their bodies together as he could manage. He nuzzled - _rubbed, because he did not __**nuzzle**_ - the tip of his nose into the loose hair at the back of her head. It still smelled good.

"You're warm," she whispered, her shoulders relaxing into him. "Like a campfire."

"Good," he said. "Sleep now."

"Okay."

And suddenly, miraculously, his brain shut itself down and he went out like a light.

The first thing that seeped into Soul's sleepy consciousness in the morning was that he actually felt rested. Content, even. Warm. Very warm. The rise and fall of foreign ribs under his wrist brought back the foggy realization that he was still wrapped around Maka, and he was completely okay with that.

Then he realized he most definitely had morning wood, and he rapidly became a lot less okay with it.

"Shhhhhhit," he whispered, pulling his hips back slowly and hoping she didn't wake up. She stirred a little, but mercifully stayed unconscious.

Stupid biology.

Carefully, he disentangled himself from their little cocoon, immediately wishing he could dive right back in once he was out of the blankets and back in the cabin's frigid air. It didn't help that the arm that had been pinned between their bodies all night was complete deadweight - totally asleep.

He glared at the ceiling in frustration before standing, slipping on his shoes, grabbing the overnight kit, and going outside so he could stumble toward the nearest latrine to relieve his bladder. Thankfully, the combination of taking a leak and the chilly air helped things settle down. Pissing through a slowly fading hard-on with one available hand was less than optimal, but he managed.

While he waited for his hand to start the painful process of coming back to life, he brushed his teeth and splashed water over his face, shaking his head. He felt... pretty good, actually. Minus the dead arm.

He exited at the same time Maka walked out of the ladies' side, looking fresh for the day in a change of clothes. Her hair still hung loose around her shoulders. It made her look different. Older.

For a blink, he recalled the feeling of contentment when he'd woken up beside her and wondered if there were any way to stretch that feeling out and make it better. His brain immediately obliged, coughing up several images that involved significantly less clothing. He tried to blink them away.

If Maka felt weird about their spooning session, she didn't show it when they dumped their stuff. She just took his good hand and led him back to the overlook. He shook his tingling arm out, wincing at the pins and needles that sparked his nerves.

She looked up at him. "Ready?"

He made a noise of assent in his throat and wrapped his good arm around her shoulders from behind, pulling her tight to his chest and letting his other arm hang to the side until it decided to stop being an asshole. She didn't protest or try to move away, she just wrapped her hands around his arm and closed her eyes. He rested his cheek on her head and did the same.

Their souls' connection was still jagged, mostly due to the distraction of his arm and the fact that he was trying to hide certain sexy images in the back of his brain, but they managed to get the gears turning this time, even if the movement was jerky and unreliable. Maka frowned - he could feel it in his head - and pushed her perception out. It didn't go far, but this time it didn't need to.

They opened their eyes together, staring down at the forest at the base of the mountain, stretching down toward Hilo proper. In the distance, barely visible, something sparkled among the trees, like a shipwrecked survivor flashing Morse code with a mirror.

"Found you," Maka said.


	8. Burn

They made short work of packing their things.

"What do you think?" Soul said, shouldering a duffle bag. "Send a line to the others?"

Maka shook her head as she zipped up her own bag. "I think we've got it. The thing's soul is slippery, but it's nothing we haven't handled on our own before. Let's let them sleep in."

"Sounds like a plan."

She shoved something against his chest and his fingers gripped it automatically. It was a packet of pills, and she held out a water bottle with a smirk. He considered protesting on principle, but they had a pre-kishin to fight, and he probably shouldn't go in swinging with nausea and a headache. As he took a swig of water to force down the medicine, he noticed that she hadn't bothered to tie up her hair like usual.

After a quick flight down to the base of the mountain, they stashed their stuff - including their heavy jackets - in a locker at a visitor's center and resonated again to pinpoint their target's location before they headed out. Something in their souls still felt like dragging nails across a chalkboard. It didn't sit well with him. They were banking on things working out like they always did, but he couldn't halt a nagging memory from years ago, when they'd been out of sync and Maka had nearly taken a fatal nosedive off a bridge because they couldn't get their shit together.

Clouds gathered overhead.

They were traipsing through thick rainforest and past the occasional small waterfall when the sky split open and dumped rain everywhere. Soul shook his sopping hair out of his eyes and leaned back to catch sweet rainwater on his tongue. Mud sucked at their shoes and the thick perfume of decaying greenery rose up from the forest floor. At least it would mask their approach.

He cast a glance at Maka and she nodded, pointing. "It's just up ahead. I can feel it."

Between the trees, there was a glint and a light shone directly in his eyes. He raised his hand and blinked, trying to clear the spots. It send a little spike into his head, stirring the headache that was laying dormant.

"There," Maka whispered as they hunched behind a large banyan tree. Soul leaned carefully around, squinting through the rain and mindful of flashing his distinctive hair at their mark. A spindly figure moved between the trees nearby, showing its back. He couldn't get a good read on it. Its skin was all wrong, shifting and glistening in the damp.

He shifted around near Maka and raised his eyebrows at her. "Got a plan?"

"I don't think we even need to resonate," she said. "It's not paying attention. Sneak attack. Wham, bam, done."

"Works for me," he said, taking her offered hand and changing form.

Maka rested him along her arm, letting his scythe stretch out above her head while she scoped the target. Her body tensed for an instant, and then she sprinted across the ground, dodging expertly between trees. The weird, glossy pre-kishin started to stand and turn its head, but it never completely made it. Soul's blade split the air.

The thing shattered into a million pieces, scattering into the undergrowth.

They stood stock still, frozen in the stance of their final blow. Maka blinked once, twice.

"What?" they said together.

Echoing laughter sounded somewhere to their right, then their left, then ahead. Maka whipped around, trying to pinpoint it. Like the decoy's skin, the noise shifted like an illusion, never the same twice.

"Damn it," Maka said, her head going side to side. "Even its soul is moving. I can't narrow it down."

The smallest well of dread started to seep into Soul's consciousness. This wasn't going to be the walk in the park they'd assumed, and their resonance was still a mess.

Shit.

In front of them, a shadow detached from one of the trees, teeth sparkling white in the dimness. Maka gripped Soul more tightly. The skinny creature giggled to the canopy and opened its eyes.

"Ah!" Maka cried as a bright flash of light blinded her. She squinted and blinked, trying to focus.

In scythe form, Soul was less affected. "It went to the southeast," he prompted.

Maka dove after it, holding Soul in front to help keep her from running headlong into anything. The trees were starting to thin when they heard a whistle through the air.

"On your left!" Soul said.

His meister spun and dropped, missing the worst of the first two razor-sharp shards that flew by. The third caught her in the upper arm and she yelled, blood dripping and running over her wet skin.

"You okay?" he said.

"Just a scratch," she gritted through her teeth. "Stings, though."

A cackle stretched behind them and she whirled into a crouch, cutting another dummy at the knees and cursing as it crumbled to pieces around her. She followed the laughter until they hit a clearing. Six smiling glass creatures waited for them in a ring, fingers full of sharpened shards ready to fly. Maka barely managed to bring Soul up in time to block the first assault. She spun her way behind a tree, breathing hard.

"I know I said we wouldn't have to resonate, but..." she said.

He didn't currently have organs to clench, but that didn't stop the flutter of panic flitting through his being. "Maka, I don't know if I can." The words were laced with his own special brand of self-loathing. What the hell kind of Death Scythe was he? He felt fifteen again.

"We don't have a choice," she said.

Their souls reached out and sprang back like they'd been scalded. He pushed hard, fighting himself and growing more and more agitated that he couldn't simultaneously maintain his walls and link with her. His soul turned angry and red all around him.

A creature of shadow and glass darted around the tree and lashed out with sharp, spindled fingers. Maka ducked, but it still managed to catch her hair and yank a lock clean off her scalp. She kept her scream locked behind her teeth, but Soul felt it all along his steel body.

Frustrated and horrified, he flashed back to flesh and let a blade slide out along his forearm, bringing it up to block the thing's next strike. It laughed, shattering itself against every block until its arms were splinters of rain-slick glass. Soul could see his face reflected in its body; a scared little boy playing at being a man. He brought up his leg and kicked it hard in the torso, sending it to crash and break against the tree's roots.

More shards whistled through the air. He retracted his blade and covered Maka with his body, wincing as a sharp edge slashed across his lower back. She was talking to him and he ignored her, shutting his eyes tight and reaching for her soul.

Why couldn't he make it work? He couldn't _find_ her and it was making him panic, making him want to scream at the sky. They were out of step and he hated this feeling, he _hated_ it, had always hated it. Things hadn't jarred and stuck this badly in years. The more he tried to force his heated soul into shape, the more it slipped through his fingers.

She grabbed his hands and pulled him down to crouching in a ditch at the edge of the clearing to avoid the worst of it. They landed in a puddle and it soaked him through.

"I'm here," she said, her voice close to a sob. She furiously tore her gloves off and put her palms flush to his forearms. "I'm right here."

Having her hands on his skin helped, but it wasn't enough, it still wasn't enough. Teeth gritted until he thought they'd break. He was so useless, letting emotion leak out everywhere. He'd let something force cracks into his walls and he was going to get them both killed.

"Focus on me," Maka said. Her hands moved to either side of his head and she made him look at her, rainwater running rivulets down both of their faces.

That was better, but his brain was so hot and tangled.

"I can't," he said, broken. "Maka, I can't make it work. Let me go. Let me protect you."

She stared into him, the resolve on her face hardening. "It's my fault," she said. "I'm sorry for this."

"What're you..." he started.

Then she leaned forward and pressed her mouth to his. His eyebrows went up a half-tick in surprise before he exhaled through his nose and went with it.

The noise in his ears dulled. There was only her, only him. She drew him in closer with her hands and he obediently followed, drinking her, feeling calm settle into his veins. The knots in him came undone, the infuriating heat cooling and condensing. He didn't think about anything but how right it felt as their souls clicked into place.

The kiss broke and she rested her forehead on his. "Okay?"

"Okay," he said. "I'm good. Let's do this."

She had distracted him just enough to clear the worst of his panic, and he used the breather to build up the blockade against the part of him going _more of that, let's do more of that, pretty please._

Instead, their souls spoke to each other without words, formulating a plan through a series of nudges and images. They pulled apart, climbing out of the ditch and moving to separate trees to draw the fire of the five remaining reflections. When the coast cleared while the enemy regrouped, Soul moved around the trunk and walked into the clearing, Maka doing the same and meeting him in the middle. He crossed in front of her, brushing his fingers across her belly and smirking over his shoulder.

"Kick their asses," he breathed into her ear.

His flesh turned to steel and she rolled him in her palms. The monsters clicked their fingers together and cackled. His meister only smiled and sank into a crouch. Rain pattered over the ground as her eyes slid from creature to creature, her Soul Perception searching deep inside to find the real one. Soul could understand the trouble - the thing's soul was a slimy little toad, slipping from body to body, distorting so they could never quite get a read on it.

They'd just have to destroy them all, then.

Maka whirled into action, deflecting projectiles and bounding across the clearing with deer-like grace. She slashed through the air, felling three of the things in seconds and leaving their bodies in pieces on the soaked ground. When she hit the fourth, she slashed upward, shattering it into the air to get lost in the rain.

_Too easy,_ they both thought, and they were right.

Their last target shimmered and disappeared, going invisible in the downpour. Maka poured her perception into Soul and he poured it back again, building it up and stretching it further, but it was no use.

Without warning, the air around them flashed like a hundred cameras going off at once, brilliant light sparking off of water and glass slivers and whatever other reflective surface it could reach. Maka yelled and raised her arm to her eyes, but her sight was temporarily shot. Soul felt her seethe, furious she got taken in again by such an underhanded tactic.

Clacking overhead caught his attention.

"Above!" he yelled at her, and she managed to roll out of the way just in time for the glass puppet to slam down in the place she'd been standing, its sharp fingers sinking into the earth.

She blinked and shook her head, trying to force her vision clear and focus through the spots and raindrops. The thing moved fast, blending into its surroundings and coming at them. Soul rode Maka's instinct and moved of his own accord, shielding her from the worst of it. The cuts she received were minor, and with a combination of his guidance and her skill, she was able to land the first real blow.

A crack appeared in the thing's side, its blood oozing sluggishly down its slick body. It screeched and retreated, going invisible again.

All around them, new monsters sprang into being, their bodies wavering behind the rain like someone stepped in front of a waterlogged mirror.

"Reflections," Soul said, taking in their six new foes. "It's using light and mirror tricks so it can confuse us."

"Great," Maka said, still trying to regain her sight. "Except these things have claws."

"Yeah, that's a problem."

"Come out and fight like a real monster!" Maka yelled as she made a beeline for one of the new clones.

No matter how many they cut down, more sprung up in their place. The clearing was full of flying glass, and the light flashing off it kept Maka half-blind. Her frustration rubbed off on Soul and he pushed her to bring him into full form, to use the keys of his piano to blast them with a sound wave that'd pulverize every last one.

She tried and hit a metaphysical wall.

Both of their minds were tiring, and it took Soul a minute to put the pieces together. Her kiss at the start of the battle had bought him a little time, surprising him into clearing his mind, but now all of the things he was holding back were taking a toll. The two of them were resonating, but they couldn't get over the hump to reach their true power when he was distracting himself.

There was nothing for it. If he didn't let lessen the pressure soon, they were going to end up cut to ribbons. He sent a burst of mental support to Maka before ducking inside.

He opened his inner eye to the smooth black sea, looking side to side. On his right, the room with the red door waited . So many cracks covered its walls that it looked a thousand years old. On his left, he saw the pulsing swirl of all the heated attraction and lust he'd been keeping at bay, contained in a straining orb of fire.

It was time to make a choice. Something had to give. Release the whispering monsters, or the liquid flame? Whatever he chose, Maka would see.

Luckily, the choice was easy.

He walked up to the fire-filled ball, cocked back his fist, and punched it open. He'd explain later. She'd understand that he couldn't help it.

Orange-gold heat spilled around him, through him, filling his soul and immediately flowing toward the path of least resistance - Maka. On the outside, her breath caught, but she didn't let it distract her. They fused more tightly together, his mind sighing in relief at not having to hold so much back.

He didn't expect the tidal wave that followed when she lowered her own shield. It washed over him and flooded his space with crashing blue-green water.

For a long second, he thought that he was misreading, that his own desire was being mirrored back at him. But this was different. There were things there he knew didn't come from him - a heated coil low in the abdomen, a flush of sticky heat, plain teeth worrying a tender lower lip while eyes roved over a bare back - _his_ bare back -as a tank top fell over it in the early morning light. That was coming from her. She _wanted_ him with a capital W, the same way he'd been pretending he didn't want her - viscerally and completely. His inner eye went wide as a hard, tingling jolt shot across his psyche.

Suddenly, her apology at the start of the battle came clear.

If he'd been using his lungs, the sheer shock of it would have torn the breath clean out of them, but there was no time to think about that now.

He snapped back to the chaos on the surface, his entire metallic body hot and vibrating. Maka's hands gripped him tighter and he felt each individual finger, each pulse of her veins, more acutely than he ever had before. Their souls were so closely linked that he wasn't quite sure where she ended and he began. Every movement she made was his own, and they curled and curved together as they fought their way through the clearing. She leaned back into a deep bend to miss the latest volley of projectiles and he balanced her, bringing her up again before she spun him in front and over her head.

They were fluid, they were grace, they were power.

This time, when the lights popped around them, she closed her eyes in time, trusting and confident. Without a word, he guided her, the ghosts of his incorporeal fingers tracing down her arms and legs from the inside, writing music on sinew, blood vessel, and bone. The image of his mouth appeared on her neck, gently nudging her from side to side and letting her know how to move. When she whirled him around her body, he warmed her like palms grazing over bare skin. He was a specter wrapped around her from behind, all sharp grin and hooded eyes. _Try to touch her again,_ his body said. _I dare you._

The pre-kishin was panicking. Its laughter went from malicious to manic, and it launched everything it had. The raindrops around them coalesced into flat mirrors, forming a spinning ring of brightness as it rose higher in the air. Maka smiled, eyes still shut and unaffected by the light.

In tandem, they pushed into one another, his orange swirling with her blue. Building, building, building. His blade lengthened over her, familiar keys spreading down its edge. She threw her head back.

The reflections all attacked at once, and Maka sidestepped them with ease, slashing out until they surrounded her in a broken pile. The spinning mirrors grew brighter. She lowered the scythe until her fingers could reach the keys. He whispered what to play and she found the notes, because she was he and they were the same.

Sound blasted through the clearing, threads of music and spirit finding every mirror, every shadow, every danger. They exploded into dust.

Maka opened her eyes.

Right in front of them, the true pre-kishin staggered, its shell falling to pieces around it. Beneath, its flesh was as slimy as its soul. It looked at them with unfiltered loathing and terror.

They leapt into the air, blade singing, and came down hard.

Time stopped when Maka's boots hit the earth, just for an instant, and then the monster cracked apart. It sent a column of light shooting into the sky, its death scream following close behind. When it faded, the only sound in the forest was falling rain.

Maka breathed in deeply and stood with her head bowed. She stretched her arm to one side, reluctantly loosening her fingers from around her weapon, and let him go.

Soul came out of scythe form the way one slowly wakes from a dream - not quite sure what's real and what belongs to sleep. His feet touched down on solid ground and he leaned forward to absorb the impact. Right in front of him, the soul glowed red and shiny like a ghostly apple, and he reached for it automatically. It gave beneath his fingers as he raised it to his mouth, swallowing it down, relishing the airy burn of it.

The rain lessened, turning from downpour to mist, and the residual enchantment of the pre-kishin still shimmered in the air, light leaping from drop to drop. Sunshine diffused through the water and shattered into colorful sparks across the clearing.

Maka made no noise where she stood behind him, and he didn't turn around. The world didn't contain enough oxygen to clear his head, no matter how many deep pulls he took. Adrenaline made him shiver from his heart to his toes. His resolve was a single strand of spider silk, pulled taut and waiting to break.

Everything would change. Everything _had_ changed, and he knew the moment he turned to her, it'd all be over.

But there was no possible way he could stay still.

One foot shifted of its own accord and he followed its lead, turning inch by inch, pausing for one infinite moment before his gaze finally found her standing a few meters away.

Her wet hair fell in waves around her face, her lips parted as she mirrored his heavy breathing, her chest rising and falling in time. Clothes clung to skin that used to belong to a girl, but she wasn't a girl anymore. Eyes greengreengreen as the forest watched him with pupils wide and dark, despite the light that surrounded her. Her mouth moved, testing the atmosphere, and a single word tumbled out, quiet and inescapable.

"Soul."

He moved. He had no choice. Everything went into fast-forward, blurring and spinning and falling, but he didn't care, because he was almost there.

They came together like a clap of thunder, wild and young, lips meeting and universe exploding all around them in rainbow and sunshower.


	9. Shark In The Water

**A/N:** This chapter is monstrous and fluffy and goofy and fairly smutty in the middle-ish. I couldn't pry them apart with a crowbar, so. They're like FIRST TO THIRD BASE IN A FEW HOURS YOLO LET'S DO IT. More actual plot next chapter. Mandatory lemons warning. It's a pretty fluffy dorkvirgin lemon though. If you'd prefer to skip it, just scan ahead for the next section after they get in the shower *cough*.

* * *

><p>Kissing had always been nice - the scant handful of times he'd tried it, anyway - but it had never been <em>this nice.<em>

Scratch that. This wasn't nice. This was amazing. Stellar. Megawatt blow-his-mind wobbly-kneed awesomeness. If this is what kissing was _supposed_ to be like, he could see why people wanted to do it more than once.

Somewhere in the haze, he knew it was less the act of kissing and more the _who_ he was kissing. Maka. Makamakamaka. Maka tasted like rain and _breath._ Her lips worked at his as they twisted their heads back and forth, breaking and meeting over and over. Her arms were locked around his neck, never letting him get more than a few inches away. It felt _beyond_, but more importantly, it felt intimate, like sharing a secret with the only person in the world you trust. Which, he supposed, he kind of was.

Was that what he'd been missing? This intimacy, this sense of really knowing the person behind the lips and the _tongue_ oh gods the tongue that ran slowly along the seam of his mouth and made him crack open like an eggshell. If she kept doing that with her tongue, her tongue could do whatever the fuck it wanted. It could talk him half to death so long as it also did thisthisthisthisthis.

After about a thousand years, they came up for air and looked at each other. He wondered if he wore her same dumbstruck expression. Then she smiled and he felt his whole face pull back into the sort of grin her rarely showed the world. She giggled and leaned in, her mouth going to his jaw and trailing kisses down his neck, and that was good. Very good. Most goodest.

She moved back a bit and spoke breathlessly into his skin. "You weren't being weird because I was freaking you out?"

"Uh-uh." He leaned down and rubbed his face on her hair.

She placed another kiss on the spot where his neck met shoulder. "This whole time, you...?"

"Uh-huh."

"Are you capable of multisyllabic words?"

"Uh-uh."

He didn't know where to put his hands. Could he put them everywhere? He was going to put them everywhere. Oh, that place made her _squeak._ In retaliation, she found a place that made _him_ squeak, which he tried to pass off as some sort of sexy murmur and failed spectacularly.

This was the longest he'd ever kissed someone before. He figured they'd probably tipped over into The Makeout Zone, and that made his insides tingle. Making Out Achievement Unlocked. In the back of his head, insecurity tugged on his shirttail and he shoved it away. He didn't want to hear that this might not be a good idea. He'd felt Maka's soul, and there was no question that she was completely on board. He was tired of fighting it. It felt too good to stop.

Maka's fingers twisted into his shirt, bringing him closer. Their kisses deepened until there was _so_ much more tongue, and the flush that had been creeping up his neck all week was back, but this time it was welcome. When Maka ran her lips over the column of his throat and tentatively flicked her tongue along the length of his windpipe, it sent an ache down low and he swallowed hard.

He could get used to this.

Soul was repaying her in kind with kisses behind her ear when a shout rang through the blissful quiet, sending a flurry of jewel-colored birds into the sky from the nearby trees.

"You spotlight stealing plebeians!" The voice echoed from several hundred yards out. "I'm gonna beat both of you until you're senseless and compliant and remember who the real star is!"

"Nooooooooooooo," Soul and Maka groaned into one another.

"How did he fucking find us?" Soul said, scowling over his shoulder.

Maka leaned around him to give the foliage her own dagger eyes. "The giant flash of light probably tipped him off."

Soul grabbed her hand and dragged her in the opposite direction of the resounding crashes coming their way.

"Where're we going?" she said.

"Anywhere but here." He pushed through the low-hanging branches and dodged a group of wild chickens. "I'm not done."

When the thickest undergrowth cleared up, they ran full-tilt through the trees until they came upon a small waterfall spilling into pool before it flowed down several more rocks to the branch of river below. Behind the waterfall was a little hollow that was deeper than a nook and not quite deep enough to be a cave. Perfect.

Maka followed as they balanced precariously on wet rocks and slipped behind the tumbling water. Once they were inside, he wrapped his arms around her and brought her to the back wall, where they peered between the breaks in the fall until they spotted a blue-haired ninja with a sword hopping with a nimbleness he didn't especially embody. Their eyes followed him as he climbed up, up, and out of sight.

"You two had better be broken in a ditch somewhere," Black Star called, his voice fading into the crash of the water.

Soul snorted. "Is it wrong to murder someone in the face if they're a god by their own admission?"

"No jury would convict you," Maka said.

"I'm saying." He turned his head and realized he was inches from her. Her eyes were practically glowing in the dark as they smiled up at him.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," he answered.

"You were saying something about not being done?"

It was hard to keep the smile off his face long enough to catch her mouth with his again. He put his palms flat on the wet rock on either side of her head, pressing the length of his body to hers while he backed her against the wall. She made little noises against his lips and wrapped her hands around his waist, bringing him in even closer. When her hand slipped down and into his back pocket, he jerked in surprise.

"Maka," he said. "Are you grabbing my ass?"

"A little," she said. "That okay?"

"I'll deal."

He leaned against her forehead and looked down the length of her body, running his fingers experimentally along the strip of skin between the hem of her shirt and the top of her skirt. She shivered and gave him an encouraging smile, so he snuck up and under the material so he could press his palm flush to the bare skin of her upper hip, then her belly, then the lower reaches of her rib cage. He gulped, not quite sure where the line was. There were rules, right? Some kind of equation about time that should pass and milestones that should be reached before you were supposed to-

Maka interrupted his internal waffling by taking his hand and moving it directly to second base, which made him immediately choke. Her breast fit perfectly in his palm. It felt very soft and very smooth and very much like skin.

"You're not wearing a bra," he accused, his voice cracking in the middle in a way it hadn't done since he was about thirteen.

For the first time since they'd started doing this thing they were doing, her cheeks colored. "I kind of forgot to pack one in the overnight bag."

"You haven't been wearing a bra since yesterday?"

She shrugged. "I was wearing so many layers that I didn't exactly need one."

"Huh." He stared at the shape of his hand outlined under her shirt, right on top of her... oh gods. His brain was going to short circuit.

She kissed him on the corner of the mouth. "You can, um. Move your hand. If you want."

"I don't want," he said, shaking his head. "I like it where it is."

A laugh bubbled out of her. "I meant that you can..." She put her hand over his again and squeezed.

"Oh my gods," he said as he leaned into her for a renewed round of kissing. Carefully, he started to massage her, still boggling over how any part of her body could be so _soft_ when he knew so much of her was lean muscle and power. Her pleased hums vibrated in his mouth and he was really starting to feel some kind of way.

Horny, he admitted to himself. He was pretty sure he hadn't been this horned up since the week Blair moved in and he'd spent a lot of time locked in the bathroom to get a handle on himself in the most literal way. His entire body was in overdrive with a combination of new sensations and an almost-week's worth of pent-up denial. When he felt Maka's nipple starting to harden under his touch, he nearly blew a blood vessel.

The spray from the waterfall had been nice at first, but it was starting to make it hard to breathe. Well, harder to breathe.

"Hhhnnnnnggg," he groaned as he reluctantly stood and withdrew his hand. "I think the coast is clear. Do you want to, I don't know, take this out from under the giant water spout?"

"Okay," she agreed, following as he guided them both back onto the wet rocks.

"Soul, be caref-"

Too late. He hit a particularly slippery patch on one of the rocks and full-body crashed into the pool below. The chill of it shocked him out of the lusty daze he'd been caught in and he scrambled to find purchase on the bottom. Luckily, it was pretty shallow. It only came up to mid-rib on him when he stood up, tossing a wide ribbon of water out of his hair.

"FUCK."

Maka was already on the side closest to him, crouching down with worry painted plainly on her face. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, it's just _cold as the ninth circle of hell,_" he said as he waded over to her.

Now that she knew he wasn't hurt, Maka laughed, standing and balancing on the rocks above him, her arms stretched out on either side of her. "Probably has something to do with it being snow water," she said. "I told you to be careful."

"I'll show you careful," he said, grabbing for her leg. She twirled out of his reach, still laughing, and sat herself up on a higher perch.

"Down, boy," she said.

He put on a demon grin. "Be mindful what you wish for."

She rolled her eyes at him and shifted down to a lower rock. He was close enough to grab her now, but he didn't. He just looked up at her, admiring the way her legs dangled over the edge and her head tilted to watch him.

"Gods, you are such a dumbass sometimes," she said.

She slid off the rock and into the water, catching his torso between her powerful legs and lowering herself over him with her hands on his shoulders. He didn't even have time to take a breath before her mouth was on his, hot and sweet. Automatically, his arms wrapped around her, holding her in place. Her fingers twined into the dripping hair at the back of his head.

Maka was no passive, tranquil sea. She was a force, a stretching expanse of unfathomable depth and beauty. He was helpless against her undertow. She could break him into the finest sand. Her waters could turn his fire to solid rock in an instant.

Very, very solid rock, as it turned out. Cold water be damned.

It was a good thing the water helped hold them up, because he had completely forgotten how his legs even worked. Her hair was backlit and glowing around her like a halo, and if she wanted him to call her an angel, he would do it. She twisted a little to the side and took his earlobe in her teeth.

Words failed him and he let go with one hand to lean on the nearby stone for support. "Mmmmuh mah gah."

Laughter lilted her voice. "Like I said. Dumbass."

Her lips where close to his again, playing, teasing, not quite touching.

"Fuuuuuuck me," he mumbled against her mouth, completely captivated.

"Not here," she answered.

That time, his legs did give out under him.

When they surfaced, they were both shivering from the chill and the rush. Her legs where still wrapped around his waist and he rubbed his palms into her lower back, bringing her close and loving the heat of her against his lower belly.

From somewhere above, a familiar voice bellowed, "SHOW YOURSELVES. YOUR GOD IS MOST DISPLEASED."

"Godsdamnit," Soul said. "I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him until he's dead and then I'm going to kill him some more."

Maka threw her head back in frustration. "I'm going to kill him so hard that Kid won't be able to find his soul for a month."

They glanced at each other and sighed.

"Help me up," she said, and he put his hands on her waist and lifted her until she could scramble back up onto the rocks. She was just leaning down to help him out when Black Star and Tsubaki bounded down the side of the falls.

"Where. The fuck. Have you been?" Black Star said. "And why. The fuck. Didn't you call us. You assjackets."

"Don't mind him," Tsubaki said. "He worries about you. I'm glad you're okay."

Black Star shot her a look. "I do not worry. My emotional range is hungry, happy, horny, sleepy, and apoplectic godsmash. There is no room for worry."

Tsubaki hid her face from her meister with her hand and mouthed _he was really worried_ at them. Maka chuckled.

"We got lost," Soul offered.

"And then Soul fell into this pool," Maka added.

"And then Maka fell in, too," he finished.

Black Star threw his hands up, delight on his face. "Oh my golly gosh, Tsu, come here and sit down!" He bounded over and sat on a nearby log, elbows on his knees. "We get to witness the dorktacular mating ritual of the bony-assed virgin otters! This is so exciting. We can write an exposé for National Geographic. Quick, quick!"

Maka finished helping Soul up out of the water and turned to glare at Star. "Would you stop-"

"Wait, wait, hold on," Black Star said, tilting his head to the side. "I just remembered that I don't actually care. Lezzgo, losers."

After the assassin turned his back on them and started gallivanting through the forest toward town, Tsubaki came into step beside them.

She leaned in. "He cares so much."

"Yeah, we know," Soul said.

He reached automatically for Maka's hand and their knuckles brushed before they stopped themselves, pulling back. Tsubaki noticed, but she just smiled and looked away.

* * *

><p>After swinging by to pick up their things from the locker, they went back to their motel. They'd managed to reestablish their typical meister-weapon routine pretty convincingly - or at least convincingly enough that Black Star didn't give them any more shit about it. They even stopped to chat in the hallway outside their rooms, Soul regaling the assassin with the incredible fight he'd missed out on while Maka made dinner plans with Tsubaki. It all felt perfectly normal.<p>

Internally, Soul was itching to herd his meister inside and do the kissing thing again. Maybe the boob thing, too. That had been excellent. Maintaining his disinterested slouch against the wall was becoming tedious.

When Black Star finally decided to go blow off steam at the on-site gym, Tsubaki said her farewells, too, mentioning meeting Jinah for coffee. Maka took her time with the key to their room while Soul watched their friends disappear down the hall.

The door clicked open and he dropped their stuff inside before tackling her from behind and burying his face in the side of her neck while she squealed. He kicked the door shut with his heel and she turned to face him, their mouths smashing together and their feet tangling. They overbalanced and he tripped and fell flat on his back, Maka landing on top of him.

"Ow," he said before she plied him with kisses again. He shifted and accidentally kneed her in the ribs.

"Ow," she said.

"We're bad at this," he said.

"Really?" She put her palms on either side of his head and adjusted herself until she straddled his hips. "I think we're pretty good at it."

"I think we need practice."

"Yeah?"

"Mmmm-hm."

He lifted his knees, slowly this time, and tilted her forward, inclining his head to meet her kiss. They turned the fever pitch down a notch and felt each other out, and it made the heat spread softly and pleasantly through the length of his torso.

Things were getting really good when a tinny "Hello? Please respond." came from the direction of the bathroom.

"Are you shitting me," Soul said. It was a statement, not a question.

Maka groaned. "It's Kid. We have to."

"Are you _shitting _me."

She sat up on her elbows and looked him in the eye. "We're technically still on duty."

"I can hear you out there," Kid said.

Soul kicked his feet against the floor. "I am going to take all of my thwarted libido and I'm going to hone it into a shiv and I am going to _stab a motherfucker in the throat._"

"Who got stabbed in the throat?" Kid said. "That sounds serious."

Maka leaned down close to his ear. "Look, I'm getting blue tubes over here, too, but we have responsibilities."

"Responsibilities are stupiiiiiiiiiid."

"Quick report. Come on." She got off of him and stood up.

"Makaaaaaaaaa." He reached up for her and made grabby hands. "I'll do that thing to your neck again."

"Seriously, does someone have a neck injury? Answer me." Kid was starting to sound mightily annoyed.

Soul got up. "Ugh _fine._" He stalked into the bathroom and slammed his hands on the counter. "What?_ What? _For the love of all the gods on all four corners of the freakin' Earth, _what?_"

Kid blanched and jerked back. "Great Eight, what's happened to you?"

Liz, who'd been leaning on Kid's shoulder, slammed a hand over her mouth to muffle her cackle as she walked out of sight.

"Be more specific," Soul said.

Kid covered his eyes. "You're a mess."

Soul was about to tear him a new one when Maka grabbed him by the belt loop and turned him around. Her hands went to his shirt, pulling it straight and doing up a few buttons that had come undone. Then she reached up and finger-combed his hair and popped his collar to hide the blooming red mark on the side of his neck.

"He's better now, Kid," she said.

The Death God peeked through his fingers and though he clearly wasn't thrilled, he at least found Soul acceptable enough to look at again. "Will one of you tell me what's happening over there?"

Patty tugged on Kid's sleeve and he leaned down into her whisper. His eyes narrowed as he looked sidelong at Soul and crossed his arms. "I seem to recall you telling me nothing was going on."

Maka shot Soul a questioning look and he scratched the back of his head.

"Dunno what you mean," he said.

"Mm-hm," Kid said. "Report, please."

Maka took the lead on recanting their recent exploits, leaving out the bit where they ran off to hide and make out behind a waterfall. Soul fidgeted and huffed, earning a stomped foot for his trouble.

"That leaves us with one to go," Maka said. "With any luck, we'll be wrapped in a few days."

"Perfect," Kid nodded. "I suppose that'll give us just enough time to make it out there to meet with Pele and reestablish ties."

Liz appeared back in the mirror with a gasp, fists clenched to her mouth and eyes wide. "We get to go? We get to go?"

Kid sighed. "Yes. We've finished up negotiations here, and it's important to keep up relations. Please don't get too-"

The Thompson sisters both screeched and jumped up and down around Kid. He rolled his eyes skyward and waited them out, even when they both stripped off their tops to reveal bikinis underneath.

"Going to Hawaaaaaa-ii, going to Hawaaaaaa-ii," they chanted as they ran off somewhere, presumably to pack.

"-too excited," Kid finished, raising a finger to his temple. "It's impossible to keep those two on task."

"I know the feeling," Maka said, planting a hand on her hip and glaring pointedly at Soul. He smirked back at her.

"Anyway, we should be there tomorrow morning. We'll likely be out of contact until then," Kid said.

Soul waved. "Okaycoolbye."

Kid made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat and signed off without his usual goodbye. As soon as he disappeared, Soul's hands were all over Maka again. He couldn't stop touching her. They always touched anyway, but this was so much more fun.

He planted kisses on the side of her face while she squawked at him and backed him toward the bedroom. With a firm-but-gentle shove to the chest, she pushed him through the doorway.

"Shower time," she said as she closed the door.

He stood just outside and gaped. "Buh wha?"

When she didn't respond, he slumped and went to go sink onto his bed, pouting. He must've pissed her off. But really, did she suddenly expect him to be a consummate professional when there were _makeouts_ to do?

Gods, he hoped she wasn't too annoyed. He didn't much care for being denied something he'd only just gotten to taste.

The shower went on and then the door opened again. He jerked his head up to find her standing there in her pale blue bikini from the other night, arm stretched up the doorframe and hip popped.

"Do you, um. Want to join me?" Her chest flushed a little, which made his neck flush a lot.

He was on his feet in an instant, pulling off his shoes and socks. "Gonna go with hell yeah."

As soon as he reached her, his hands were on the bare skin of her waist, herding her inside. She made soft little laughs along his neck as she unbuttoned his shirt, and man, there was something special about those nimble little fingers brushing down the length of his torso and then reaching inside to push the cloth off his shoulders. It fell over his arms and crumpled onto the floor.

She stared openly at his bare chest, running her fingertips gently across the scar tissue puckering it in the middle.

"Still think it's nice?" he breathed.

With a slightly self-conscious smirk, she leaned forward and placed an open-mouthed kiss on his right pec and he went light-headed. Familiarity born of years together and constantly handling him in one way or another kept her fingers steady as she trailed them down his sides, playing every rib like the keys of a xylophone.

She backed up, pulling him toward the shower as she stepped over the edge. Before he followed, he dropped his pants with shaking hands, leaving his boxers on. Seemed fair, since she still wore her bikini.

The water hit him in the middle of the back as they kissed. After a few minutes, she reached for the shower gel and they washed, her fingers guiding him to turn so she could get his back. She was especially careful with the cut he'd received while protecting her. He returned the favor, twisting her wet hair over her shoulder and running soapy fingers over her shoulder blades and underneath the string of her bikini. This time, he let himself unashamedly admire her back, curving and dipping like a string instrument. He didn't hesitate the press wet kisses to the place where her shoulder met her neck. She tasted a little like soap, but that was okay.

After they washed their hair and filled the room with that mango-or-maybe-papaya smell that had been driving him nuts for the past several days, they were content to press close and kiss. Their skin slid together like silk in the water.

It seemed like this was becoming a running theme for them. Soul wondered if he'd ever be able to hear the sound of falling water again without getting a boner.

Speaking of which.

He shifted his hips back a bit even though his body begged him to get closer. After being in a state of mild-to-supermega arousal for most of the day, he felt like letting Soul Jr. anywhere near her would result in a quick and untimely end. Which he'd be perfectly cool with if it wouldn't be embarrassing as shit. But fuck, he ached for release. Badly. Maybe he could convince her to let him have a few minutes (or like, a single minute, if he was being real) of shower time to himself.

With a small pop, Maka released his mouth, her chest heaving. That didn't help.

"Everything okay?" she asked, and godsdamn if she wasn't beautiful with her wet hair and wet lips and wet everything.

"More than okay," he said. "I just, ah. Need to finish up."

Confusion flitted across her face. "Did I miss a spot or something?"

He ran his hand over his forehead and tried to think of a not-horrible way to say _I need to jerk it like you wouldn't believe and it's not gonna be pretty._

"Guy stuff. Just need a few minutes. Alone."

She blinked and pursed her lips. And then she got a _look_ on her face.

Oh no.

"Guy stuff," she repeated.

Oh no.

"Does guy stuff involve... this?"

Her fingers reached out and gently, softly, carefully stroked over his wet-cloth-covered erection and he nearly fell over.

"Oh Jesus fuck," he said as he slammed a hand to the tiled wall to keep himself upright. He'd gone beyond hypersensitive and straight into might-come-at-the-touch-of-a-feather.

The way she grinned shouldn't be legal. "I can help with that."

"I... I... I..."

She placed her hands on either side of his torso and turned him around, backing him into the far side of the shower away from the water.

"M-Maka, you shouldn't... I can..."

Her hands were running down his stomach muscles and he twitched under her touch.

"It's okay, I want to," she said. "Besides, I'm pretty good at handling your shaft."

Choked, nervous laughter spilled out of him. "I can't believe you just fucking said that, you dirty nerd."

She shrugged. "You knew what you were signing up for."

Then she ducked down low and his eyes went wide. Whatever he'd expected, it hadn't been that. Her hands were fumbling with the flap of his boxers, making his breath catch every time she touched him.

"I- dunno- if that's the- bessssst- uhbluh ubbah wuh." He went blurry-eyed, the green-and-white patterned tiles in front of him running together. Her mouth was somewhere he never in a zillion years imagined it would be and his palms were pressed so tightly to the wall that he thought it might crumble. He had to... this would not... oh gods, that was a tongue, that was definitely a tongue. Hot and wet and soft and firm and _swirling_ and things were happening, they were happening right now.

"Ooooooooh no oh no whOA NO."

Despite the fog in his head, he instinctively put his hands her under her arms and lifted her up and away before grabbing hold of the spit-slick head of his cock for dear life and sputtering a variety of half-formed expletives as he spilled over, and over, and over, every pulse making the muscles in his legs shake. His jaw eventually went slack and he tried to remember how to breathe like a thing that needed oxygen to live. It was kind of a miracle he was still standing.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw she held both her hands over her mouth, her eyes huge and horrified. From behind her fingers, he could hear mumbled versions of "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it, what was I thinking, I wasn't..."

He sucked in a breath and managed, "Haah?"

"I didn't mean to hurt you. I know it's sensitive. Oh gods, I should have..."

He tried desperately to focus his eyes. "Hurt me?"

"You... you looked like you were in pain."

A bewildered, bubbling guffaw rose straight from his belly. "For future reference, whatever face I just made -" he gestured with his free hand "- not a pain face. Opposite of a pain face."

"Oh," she breathed. Then she comprehended. "OH."

"Yeah. 'O' is right. I think I just O'd my brain out."

She smacked his arm. "Now who's dirty?" The water still pounded her back as a blush flared her face. "You didn't have to pull me up, you know."

"Oh yes I did. Trust me."

Her eyes darted down to his hand, where things were... dripping. Well, that was nasty.

"Um." She fiddled with her hair. "Is there always that... much of it?"

Now his face felt hot. "Not always. It's been a while."

They both fidgeted as the water continued to hiss against the tile.

"I'd like to clean up now," he mumbled. He felt like such a turkey.

"Okay," she said. She started to get out of the shower, but paused, leaning in to kiss him one more time. He accepted.

When she pulled away, he said, "That felt fucking amazing. All twenty seconds of it."

She giggled. "I'll see you when you get out."

As the door clicked shut behind her, he stepped back into the water and washed himself off again. He turned down the heat and let it cool his warm face. Christ, he was a dork. He'd last longer next time.

_Next time._

Possibilities swirled through his head and he shook it violently. He'd just gotten rid of his hard-on. Didn't need a new one.

_Yet._

_SHUT UP, BRAIN._

He turned off the water and dried himself, peeling off his wet boxers and trading them for a towel. When he reached for the doorknob, he paused for a second. He'd walked out on her in just a towel before, but the context had changed. Was everything they did from now on going to be laced with sexy undertones? He kind of hoped so.

_SHUT UP, BRAIN._

Fuck it.

The air in their room was significantly cooler than the humid bathroom. It made his skin prickle. Maka had changed into shorts and a tank top and was busying herself folding clothes at the foot of her bed. She turned to him and unashamedly raked her eyes over his body. He felt a twinge at his center and a smile quirked his mouth.

"Stop that," he said.

"Nope," she said, looking him up and down again.

He clicked his tongue and went to dig boxers and shorts out of his own bag. She was still looking.

"For chrissakes, you closet pervert, turn around!"

"I've seen it," she said, showing him her most innocent, candy-sweet smile.

He glared at her, but there was no annoyance in him anywhere. "You would throw a book at my head if this were the other way around."

"Fine, fine," she said, putting her hands up and turning back to her task.

While he yanked his boxers on under his towel, he kept an eye on her. A barely-there tinge of pink colored her cheeks, but she didn't look. As he was buttoning up his shorts, a thought occurred to him and he went to her. She leaned toward him automatically as he approached.

"Hey." He nudged the side of her head with his nose. "I wanna do you."

"What?" she squawked, gaping up at him.

He realized what he'd said. "Oh shi- wait. That came out wrong. I meant I want to take care of you."

She raised an eyebrow and he sighed. His palm spread over her belly and he ran his pinky finger along the band of her shorts.

"I want to _take care_ of you," he said.

"Use your words, goofball."

"Aaargh, I am!" He nipped her ear and leaned in close, mumbling as embarrassment and excitement flitted in his chest. "Iwanageyuoff."

She snickered and ran a hand down his arm. "What language is that?"

Soul spun her around to face him. "I would like. To get. You off. Sexually."

Her smile turned from amused to sultry. "I'd be up for that, I think."

With a growl, he scooped her up and tossed her on the bed, scattering the clothes she'd been folding everywhere as he crawled after her. She didn't seem to mind as he lowered himself over her body, molding his lips to hers. He ran the tip of his tongue along her bottom lip and sucked on it, just a little. She moaned and arched, and he realized she must still be pretty keyed up from earlier.

His hand slid under her tank top to find she was, once again, braless, and that was still really fucking great. He brought his knees up, straddling her and putting his weight on his legs so he could reach in to cup her with his other hand, and now his hands were full of boobs. For a day that had started out incredibly poorly, it had sure turned out well. He rubbed circles into the soft flesh and she wriggled beneath him. When his thumbs brushed over her nipples, he found them already standing at attention. She gasped.

Kisses everywhere. He was a kiss machine. Mouth, face, neck, collarbone.

"Please touch me," she whispered in his ear. "I want you to touch me."

He pulled his hands free and shifted to lay alongside her, trailing his fingers down the line in the center of her abdominal muscles until he reached the snap of her shorts. He flicked it open and swallowed. This was brand new territory, but her eyes were so dark, so pleading. He kissed her hard and slid his fingers under the band of her underwear.

Everything was soft. Soft skin, soft hair, soft folds of flesh. He brushed against something that made her buck, rolling her head back and gasping. He'd have to remember that. That was a good look on her.

He explored deeper and discovered the physical version of that slick arousal he'd felt from her during the fight that morning. It was silky and wet and it was _for him_ and he felt a burst of electricity work its way down below his belt. So much for going fifteen fucking minutes without a boner.

"What do you want me to do?" he said next to her ear, voice shaking a little. "What feels good?"

In answer, she lifted her hips and reached to shimmy her shorts down her thighs, giving him more room to move. She put her hand over his, finding his first two fingers and making them into a V. She guided him over her until the point of the V rested over something swollen and hard - her clit, he realized with a gulp - and the length of his fingers settled along either side of her folds. Then she started to move him in little circles.

"Like this," she whisper-gasped. Fuck, that was hot.

He curled in closer to her as he worked his hand, watching her face as her brows knit together and her chest heaved up and down. He went fast and tight, then mixed it up with slower and wider. She was starting to make little noises, tiny mewls and cries that made something carnal and ancient stir at the base of his brain.

"Gods, Maka, you're going to kill me."

With a great deal of effort, she cracked an eye open and looked at him. "Tell me what I'm doing to you," she breathed.

"Uuuuunnnnggg." He buried his face in her shoulder. She wanted him to talk dirty? He didn't know if he could do it.

"Tell me," she begged.

"You're m-making me h-hard again," he attempted.

She responded with a breathy little "ah-ah."

He licked her shoulder. "You get me hot as hell. I want you so bad I can't think straight. You're so w-wet, and it makes me wanna... wanna..."

"Wanna what," she cried.

His brain sifted through a thesaurus full of words for something that didn't sound straight out of amateur porn. In the end, he went with simple, straightforward, and 100% true.

"I want to be inside you," he said, quiet and shy.

Her breathing went erratic and he picked up speed, pushing her toward what he hoped was the edge of her cliff. She sucked in air, her thighs twitched, her toes curled.

The sounds that flowed out of her as she came were nonsensical and perfect. He drank her in, watching her face as she lost herself, all pretense and poise erased in favor of pure ecstasy. A dozen things flooded over him - amazement, pleasure, pride, bewilderment. He'd done this to her. He wanted to do it to her again, and again, and again.

She rolled her body like waves into his hand for several long seconds before she stilled. Once her breathing settled, she opened her eyes and found his. He leaned down, and kissing her felt so normal, so right, like they'd been doing it forever. He pulled his hand out of her shorts so he could reach up and cup her face, but stopped in midair.

"Uh," he said, looking at his sticky, shiny fingers.

"Here." She reached down to the floor between their beds and managed to grab one of his socks. "Guess you leaving these things laying around everywhere comes in handy sometimes."

He rolled onto his back and cleaned his hand off, trying not to think about how it smelled - a combination of skin and heady, salty musk that could only really be described as _sex._ When he was done, he flopped his arm to the side and felt her take his hand. He held it back and squeezed while they both stared up at the ceiling.

"This has been the weirdest day," she said.

"Tell me about it," he agreed. "I think we crammed several dates' worth of bases into four hours."

She turned her head and he did the same.

"Is that bad?" she asked. "Are we being sluts?"

"I dunno, can you be a slut for one person?"

She rolled onto her side and traced her fingers down his arm. "I think I'd probably be okay with being a slut for you. Just you, though."

He laughed. "Pair of monogamous slutty virgins, we are."

"About that." She flicked her eyes up at him. "What you said, before. Did you mean it? Do you want to h-have sex?"

There his body went, doing the haywire thing again. He gulped. Have sex. _Have _sex. Have _sex._

"Like, now?" he croaked.

She buried her face in her pillow and squeaked. "Not _right now,_ but you know. Sometime? In the future?"

"Do I want to have sex with you at some point? Yes. One million yes."

Her smile was giddy and shy. "Me too. But maybe not yet."

"Yeah," he agreed, rolling onto his side to face her. "That feels pretty big. We should do it right."

She raised an eyebrow. "You don't know how to do it right? Do I need to get you a diagram?"

With a growl, he leaned in and nipped at her neck. "You know what I meant."

The door of the room next to them slammed open and shut again. Black Star was back, and that probably meant they should cool it. Funnily, Soul was okay with that. Now that they'd gotten the worst of the tension out of their systems, it was actually kind of nice just to lounge casually together.

It wasn't cuddling. It totally wasn't cuddling.

Okay, it was cuddling.

* * *

><p>Dinner went quickly, considering Soul hadn't eaten a single damn thing for the entirety of the day, and after the day he'd had, he was in dire need of sustenance. He wolfed down his food so quickly he barely tasted it, which was unfortunate because he was sure it was good. Maka held up most of the conversation with Black Star and Tsubaki while he supplemented with noncommittal grunts and affirmations. It apparently matched his usual MO closely enough that no one commented.<p>

Afterward, as they walked back in the twilight, Black Star tried to convince him to go for a night swim. He declined.

"What's with you?" Star said, examining him suspiciously. "You're different, like you finally pulled the stick out of your ass. Did you actually get laid?"

Soul maintained his bored expression - barely - and tilted his head to glare at his friend with half-lidded eyes. Maka and Tsubaki were walking well ahead and out of earshot, thankfully.

"Maybe not," Star shrugged. "Fighting that pre-kishen must've gotten your frustration out, I guess."

"Something like that," Soul said.

"You're still a freakin' turbotaint for taking it on without me there."

Soul shoved him to the side. "There will be other fights, dude. Enjoy your day off."

The assassin rolled his shoulders and stretched his arms. "No rest for the godly. All right, if you're not coming with, I'm out." True to his word, he tore off for the water.

"Black Star, really?" Tsubaki called after him. "There's a jellyfish warning _and_ a riptide warning right now. Black Star!"

The breeze carried a fading cry back to them. "Gods fear no mortal oceaaaaaaaaan."

"Except this ocean isn't mortal," Tsubaki huffed. "I'd better make sure he doesn't kill himself."

"What else is new," Maka said. "Catch you in the morning?"

"Yeah." She swayed off with a sigh.

Soul and Maka strolled together for several yards before she reached out and laced her fingers through his. He glanced down at their clasped hands and let his mask fall, just a little. They held hands all the time, really, but this felt new. This wasn't emotional support, or prepping for a fight. This was just... holding hands. Then Maka lifted his hand to her mouth and pressed her lips against his knuckles.

It made him feel inexplicably, weirdly, stupidly giddy, which was the damndest thing.

He stopped beneath a Royal Poinciana tree, letting Maka walk ahead until she noticed she was weighted back. She turned to glance at him and he tried to give her his best "come hither" look. It did the trick. Red blossoms bright as his eyes swayed in the dark above as she came close and tilted her head up for a kiss.

Later, after a movie and a not-insufficient amount of banter punctuated by kisses, he brushed his teeth and got ready for bed. Like usual. He came out to find her sitting up against her pillows, reading. Like usual. He walked toward his own bed. Like usual.

He paused and peered over at her.

When she felt his gaze, she glanced up. A smile played at her lips as she tugged her sheet open.

"Do you want to-" she started, but he was already sliding in and snuggling down next to her.

She chuckled and turned out her light, and he heard her book sliding onto the side table just before she laid down on her back. One of his arms crept over her ribs and hugged her tighter. They found one another's lips in the dark, once, twice, and tangled together sleepily, heads to pillows, eyes drifting closed.

Not like usual at all. Usual was overrated.


End file.
